Shipwrecked by Blair H. Smith
No man is an island, unless dementia
has shelled his character
to the bare bones, which stand
like a blackened stump
on a rocky outcrop
from which the tide recedes
daily.
He finds himself no more
surrounded by living shores
but high and dry
with the wrack and jetsam,
while fickle seas
bring only reluctant calls
from distant friends and memories,
the recent having drifted away.
Also published in Poetry Scotland 108 (2024)
Illustration by Laura Darling
Blair H. Smith
Blair was born, bred and educated in Glasgow, where he graduated in medicine in 1987. He has pursued a clinical and academic career in Glasgow, Sheffield, Aberdeen and Dundee (where he still works). A long-term resident of Methlick, Aberdeenshire, he now lives in St Andrews, Fife with his wife Jane. His poetry and prose reflect his experiences of life, love, health and nature. After a gap of around 25 years, his recent return to writing was heralded by his book Stranger Within (Lumphanan Press, 2024).