Point No Point
Point No Point
from the sea
sailors saw a distant point
on a long coastline
from land
no point was seen
they named it Point No Point
in 1952
Miss Packham saw a tea room
in her mind’s eye
a place to rest and contemplate
after the war
she had been a nurse
in the war—
Canadian Armed Forces
had built a tower
looking out to sea
at the farthest point
of Point No Point
serendipitously
Miss Packham lived in that tower
while her tea room was being built
I like her sense of humour she chose to name her tearoom Point No Point rather than Glacier Point (a local name) where no glaciers flow a cold name for a tearoom I sleep in the cabins which came later
when my Mother dies
I walk Miss Packham’s paths
watch sunsets
as she did
I bring my children
we explore beaches
I come again on my birthday
with my husband
as we age
war has flared once more
igniting the Middle East
regional conflicts
with global significance
triggered by power hungry old men
like sparring dragons
I watch the sea
ebb and flow to and fro
sometimes gentle often fierce
it flings itself against these rocks
wearing them down
to sand
well, you were there, thats one of the points
My friend, artist Sandra Semchuk, responded to my poem with:
Point no point
the point of the matter
is always elsewhere
a stone at the edge of
ocean
rolling towards
the shore
then slipping back out
out
out