Great Regulars: It's as if [James Elroy] Flecker himself

is patching up and repainting the vessel. The "talkative bald-headed seaman" who tells "great lies about his wooden horse" is far from dream-like. This is another moment where fantasy and realism meet.

Finally, the ship returns to its most distant origins. In a visionary metamorphosis, the wood flowers. We continue to be held in the trance of myth, and the imagination that aestheticises it, and feel as reluctant as the poet must have been to emerge from the gorgeous spell.

The Old Ships

from Carol Rumens: The Guardian: Books blog: Poem of the week: The Old Ships by James Elroy Flecker

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