Ask me whether what I have done is my life,and I will say look,a dowitcher with the head of Janus, one facerevering the wrack line, thumbing with its long billwhat the water has heaved – blanched Pepsi caps,mummified kelp, sticks sea-eaten and stripped clean.Ask me whether what I have done is my life,and whether it has made a difference,and I will reply – but only to admit that,like anything committed to the sea,maybe I’ll get back to you in the morning.Notice the other half, the face fixed to the sky,it hears only the bill nicking shells, tapping lure.He wants to have a name readyfor the music that will appear when bottle glass,once shard but now a rounded green, is juggledbetween their clicking chopstick beaks.Ask me whether what I have done is enough,and I will say let there be the loss that a wrack line records,if only for how the cold air whistles on a beach,while we sutureour broken and partial worldswith sea grass left behind by the tide,each in our own way a historian of waves.
Feature Date
- May 20, 2024
Series
- What Sparks Poetry
Selected By
Share This Poem
Print This Poem
“Wrack Line” from WRACK LINE: by M. W. Jaeggle.
Published by University of Regina Press on September 23, 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by M.W. Jaeggle.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.
Regina, Saskatchewan
Canada
University of Regina
“Forceful reflection.”
—Literary Review of Canada
"Jaeggle uses the wrack line—the area of seashore where organic material and other debris is deposited at high tide—brilliantly as a metaphor for poetry, not only as a palimpsest record of one's life, the gathered detritus in lines, but also the grey spaces between the breaking of waves."
—BC Review
"An assured debut that augurs well for future volumes."
—The Miramichi Reader
"There are some stunning moments and movements across Jaeggle’s Wrack Line; I am very curious to see where he might go next.”
—Rob McLennan
“Jaeggle’s precise, tender, often surprising evocations of the natural world allow me to feel his earth as something seen, renewed and renewable. The joys of perceiving and making words work carry me with the lightest touch toward pleasure and human connection, where awareness trumps sorrow and angst. The details and images, warm and charming, contribute much to the book’s wisdom.”
—David Zieroth, author of watching for life
"From memory, from brushstroke, from tidal aftermath, M.W. Jaeggle’s poems contain profound resonances."
—Laurie D. Graham, author of Fast Commut
Poetry Daily Depends on You
With your support, we make reading the best contemporary poetry a treasured daily experience. Consider a contribution today.
