Building a Ship with Stuart Mills and “In the Low Countries”
Over at Poetry for Life we are reading Stuart Mills’ magnificent little poem “In the Low Countries.” The poem appears in my first book, The Joy of Poetry. At Substack, I said that to me, the poem is about my experience of poetry-writing.
Here’s the poem I wrote in response:
Galiano Island
It is September and you
are sailing away, away
From the dock I watch you
recede into waves
The trees call me back
to shade, to write—
no. Let me grieve
in full sun.
The door shuts. The miracle
waits, pencil poised.
– Megan Willome
I loved this book. As soon as I finished, I began reading it again.”
—David Lee Garrison, author of Playing Bach in the D. C. Metro
