Gale Warning - November 2006

Each oar-thrust spread arrowheads that kept Gunsgreen House in line with a crowd of gulls over the town cowp. Behind the grunt of timbers, bump of oars, we used the dying drum-roll of combers on sand to judge distance off then paused to drop our lines poised on a copper dome made molten by ripples thrown by the boat’s yaw. All round the fleet swung metronome masts in a calm that floated bird down. Gulls swirled above our heads leaking amber through corona-edged wings feathers fine as lashes. Again and again they dived across the sun, shadows criss-crossing the deck urgent, as if to warn us to heed the signs: the heel of a hand on the horizon fingers reaching out to crush the sun. By Alan Gay from The Boy Who Came Ashore, Dreadful Night Press, 2006 Poem supplied courtesy of the Scottish Poetry Library

About the poet Alan Gay studied Political Science and was formerly an Educational Advisor. He now lectures in Navigation and Meteorology and spends his summers with his wife Jancis sailing their yacht. His poetry is well placed in competitions, magazines and anthologies. His poetry pamphlets include Songs of Sorrow (Conquest of the Aztecs) (Bullseye, 2003), Gone Sailing (Bullseye, 2002), All Points North (The Voyage to Bear Island, Spitsbergen and Greenland) (MH Projects, 1996) and The Boy Who Came Ashore (Dreadful Night Press, 2006), from which this poem was taken. He lives with his family in East Lothian.

The inspiration behind the poem Alan wrote the collection The Boy Who Came Ashore to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the great storm of 1881 when hundreds of east coast fishermen were killed in one night. In it, he pays tribute to the fishermen who were at sea that day, trying to capture the scene through their eyes. The collection was published by Dreadful Night Press and can be purchased from the Scottish Pamphlet Poetry website.

If you have enjoyed this poem, you can borrow a range of poetry from the Scottish Poetry Library, who also lend by post. Telephone 0131 557 2876 or email reception@spl.org.uk.