Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Videos
Resources
Syllable Counter
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Quotes
Short Stories
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 216.73.216.246
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
A seaman's life Looking at the map, I have been to most countries that have seaports but no time to explore work had to be done whether it was Monday or Sunday I have crossed many seas. The Pacific Ocean had long, deep waves, the Atlantic Ocean had sharper waves while the Mediterranean Sea could not make up its mind The Black Sea wasn't blue and looked darksome; the ship was stuck on ice flakes The country we seamen preferred was the USA we could get our shopping done and buy stuff for friends at home, shops stayed open longer A Russian town had a beautiful avenue, but otherwise a city shrouded in darkness I lost my heart to Guatemala, beautiful beaches near the docks, a nation of friendly folks Haiti, Port-au- Prince where Papa Doc ruled with his brutal men dressed in flowery shirts, sunglasses eager to shoot at anything that moved a place where portholes had to be closed for the stink What I remember best was in Nagasaki one afternoon I had two hours off work and noticed how few people I met it was as if they were still in shell shock In a courtyard, I came across the graves of Portuguese seamen who had died of the pest 200 years ago far from home, died of an illness, I grieved for them The evenings in foreign ports were the same bars and women of ill repute ready for a small amount of money serviced the ritual of sex, so one could be drunk go back onboard for a few hours of sleep
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required