Poem of the Week: “Boy Bathing” by Denis Devlin

Though short, this poem’s rich use of precise detail breathes life into the moment of a boy’s dive into the sea. Devlin’s description of the cliffside landscape is artfully woven in a way that sweeps the reader into the poem.

Boy Bathing

On the edge of the springboard
A boy poses, columned light
Poised.
Seagulls crying wrinkles
The brown parchment cliffs.
His body shines: a knife!
Spread wings, he opens
Plunges
Through the gold glass of sunshine
Smashes
In crumbs of glass the silence.

–Denis Devlin, from Collected Poems (1989)