Two Children In a Boat by Robert Nisbet

"Children” is the word which Bowen uses,
for he hates the word “kids”. These two,
the boy and the girl in the boat, may be sixteen.
Bowen regards most youngsters of that age
as pretty much a social washout.
They giggle and grin at their devices
and seem to live for the great indoors.

And now, one early summer morning,
down in the harbour, he sees the boy and girl
sitting in a little fishing boat, and the boy,
it seems, is showing the girl the fixtures,
the lobster pots, the outboard motor,
the rudder, and Bowen is thrilled.

Bowen, an impractical man, isn’t sure
if you need a licence for an outboard motor
or if the boy (he guesses, in his father’s boat)
is old enough. But there they sit
and the boy is spinning his narrative.

Bowen rejoices, summons images of punts
on the River Isis (himself having once
failed a scholarship exam for Oxford)
and dreams of youngsters, the nation’s future,
ruddy-cheeked and decent, setting sail
in the brightest and sunniest of bays.

Not quite. Chloe, the belle of the ball,
the doll of the class, is wary. It’s a weird way
of going out together. But still ..
the boy’s tale of fishermen and trips and gear
intrigues her in a way. Endears.

As the tide comes in the little craft,
anchored by the harbour wall, lifts and tilts,
rocks gently, side to side, this way, that way,
for much of the summer afternoon.

 

Robert Nisbet is a Welsh poet whose work has appeared widely in Britain, where he won the Prole Pamphlet Competition in 2017, and in the USA, where he has been nominated four times for a Pushcart Prize.