Poems by Robert Seatter

These are poems written by the poet Robert Seatter during one of Rosalind’s mosaic courses on the island of Skyros.

‘Mosaic’, written while Robert was making his first mosaic, was later printed by The Independent On Sunday as its poem of the week, and is included in Robert’s collection of poems: ‘Travelling to the Fish Orchards’.

 ‘Merman in a Bottle’ was inspired by one of the mosaic mermen in the mosaic triptych at Atsitsa that Rosalind was making at the time, based on traditional Skyrian embroideries and folklore.

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Mosaic

The sky is hard and cracks easily -
bits of blue that let in grey light,

and a bird with one wing hangs
upside down, sings a stone pause.

The landscape makes splinters, every path
leads to a gap. You balance on edges,

you wait and listen, looking both ways
before you cross the line, walk

into the dark. Tomorrow comes sun
like a broken egg. All the yellow squares

have been cracked in the bowl.
They will ache into place,

remembering how it was once

to fit together.

Merman in a Bottle

I am your half fish, one green eye,

one blue. I have swum through oceans

to be here, dripping by your firelight.

You may dress me in a brocade jacket

and plaid my beard. You may sit me here

at your white linen table in an upright chair.

And yes, I will breathe into your wine glass,

tip your pale eyes onto my tongue.

I will spit your olive stones into a bowl

and have patience with buttons –

But remember, I am rank in the morning.

I will squirm my tail in the mud.

You cannot keep me in your small glass room

though you lock the windows and polish the mirror.

Can you feel my body under all that water?