Our discussion of Anglo-Saxon kennings inspired listener Paul Holler of Arlington Heights, Illinois, to write a lovely poem exploring the idea of the kenning sea-guest, meaning “sailor,” and what it means to be a guest of the sea and what that says about humans’ relationship with the sea, wildlife, and nature. His poem was published in the Roanoke Review. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Lovely Sea-Guest Poem”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
In an earlier episode, we talked about Anglo-Saxon poetry and its use of kennings. Those are those poetic compounds that substitute for simple nouns, like, you know, whale road for ocean or sky candle for sun. Or word horde for dictionary or vocabulary.
Yes, yes, yes, the words that are tucked inside of you. And there was another word that we mentioned, which was brimgist, which literally translates as sea guest, but it means sailor.
After we talked about that word, one of our listeners got to thinking about the idea of how the sea is an alien environment for humans, how a mariner is literally a guest of the sea. And he’s a poet. His name is Paul Holler. He lives outside of Chicago.
And he was inspired to write a poem along these lines, and it has some nice echoes of Anglo-Saxon poetry, which, as you know, has a lot of alliteration and repetition. And I asked if I could share it, and he said okay.
So here it is. It’s called Sea Guest by Paul Holler.
There’s something about the sound, the crash of the waves offshore, the roll and the royal, and the whisper of a wave’s ending that draws the sea guest to where the sea begins. There’s something about the way the birds glide through the warp and weft, and the way the seals cross from sea to sand and back again, working time in wide circles and space in small ellipses, that draws the sea guest to where the sea begins.
There’s something about the way it looks when he closes his eyes and takes the bird’s woven sail in his hands and hues a driftwood hull and sets a tall and true mast and crosses from sand to sea. And the birds soar on sails like his own. And a seal rises up with a face like his own. And dives and circles and soars in a firmament like his own. And the waves beneath his feet flow and pulse with his own heart.
And there’s something about the quiet when he opens his eyes and the others are far away. He stands unmoving on the line where the sea begins because the others are of the sea and he is a mere guest.
Martha, that is so perfect. I read it as well online and knew we had to share on the show.
I’m so glad that you did. We will share the link to Paul Holler’s poem online. That’s H-O-L-L-E-R.
And if you’ve got some poetry or a book or something you’ve created that you’re really proud of, Martha and I will absolutely take a look at it. You can send it to words@waywordradio.org or tell us about it by text or phone, toll free, 877-929-9673.
