Fo'C's'Le - a Dream

fo'c·'sle    /'fohksel/  noun  deriv: forecastle
      1. the forward part of a ship below the deck, traditionally used as the crew's living quarters.
      2. historical:    a raised deck at the front of a ship.


With the equinox illuminating a fortnight of recovery 
          On pelts spread like Ionian jars left askew, 
My flame-keep sparked alight against the doldrums of 
          Greed. Stagnant and fetid. 
My bark beats out a call stretched 
          Skin-tight over the sea’s virgin core
And sets trust aflame. 

Ashes collected into the collated casks and 
          Corked with animus, Moon Girl pounded on. 
Drumming a dirge on the tanner's own flesh. 
          Pounding the seed of echoing hope. 
Pounding the corpus beat of life anew.

Those echoed my own harmony and emptied my ears. 
          My tunes would now be true and crisp. 
My struggle to syncopate the middle eight 
          Was like on the saltchuck the time before. 
Before we crossed the bar,
          Breakers chasing, pounding aft of stern.

Now in the glow of the coal oil lamp 
          Sat The Dane who came to trade. 
He mumbled a Chinookian curse and winced. 
          He sensed my mariner's cred, how I lit my smoke; 
Muscle memory and addiction married in my subconscious.  

But His eyes would never sense the venomous flow
          Of the seabreak distant, 
Like hounds baying to the highway of stars 
          And up to the dunes ran with phosphorescent faces 
Fermenting the blackness. 
          Hell-hounds bounding. 
          Lungs pounding.
          Driving on.

River may lick Disappointment’s shanks 
          But Drake’s gold remains unfound.  
The cavities carved along the capes 
          Echo an emptied ethos and sapped spirit 
Which salal and sage cannot clense. 

Walk with me now Sister Ilchee. 
          Beat your dirge 
Along the pock-marked ports of plunder 
          Laid before the flattened corpse of 
Ebbing freedom found.


Copyright © | Year Posted 2021



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Date: 9/5/2021 10:45:00 AM
I may be misinterpreting as I know nothing about the sea, but I find this a poignant poem about an ancient seafarer who, because of age, can no longer go to sea. Now he rides the waves of the river. At any rate, a very beautiful poem.
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Ken Rone
Date: 9/5/2021 11:36:00 AM
https://natureasneighbors.com/ilchee-moon-girl-gazing-waterfront-renaissance-trail/
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Ken Rone
Date: 9/5/2021 11:34:00 AM
Hi Ann Intended to be surreal to an extent. It tells about the skipper of the Moon Girl, plying the northwest coast to trade beaver pelts...a middleman between the indians and trappers and the English collectors. He meets The Dane within the Columbia River estuary beneath Cape Disappointment before he disembarks to another port of call. Moon Girl, after whom the boat is named is indeed a real historical person, Ilchee.
Date: 4/4/2021 1:06:00 PM
The reason the oppressed finally "Speak truth to power" is it's all that's left, but in so doing, they discover it is their greatest weapon. Humanity is not a part-time job.
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Ken Rone
Date: 4/5/2021 7:54:00 AM
Thank you Robert. I am so pleased you took the time to read and comment. I hope it proves value.
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