You know what? Too much of ship been going on.
As I sit back I realize, I been dealing with a lot of ship. I really been in some ship and through some ship in my life.
But enough about me, what about you? What kind of ship have you been in or experienced?
Let’s evaluate some of this ship.
relationship, censorship, battleship
sportsmanship, leadership, kinship
discipleship, cruise ship, sponsorship
championship, guardianship, worship
membership, scholarship, dealership
spaceship, citizenship, fellowship
friendship, partisanship, dictatorship
partnership, workmanship, starship
apprenticeship, companionship
stewardship, penmanship…
Alright that’s enough, I’m so over this ship.
Excellence in plumbing leaves me numb
Mastery in apprenticeship of thumbs
A Dearth of splash guards
Replaced with glass shards
Invites me to leave instead of come
In the calabash of life,
a profound journey unfolds
as the space
gracefully passes the baton
in the art of apprenticeship.
Success resonates like a fine chant,
akin to the resonance of the four-lobed kola nut
the water that flows,
immersing its feet
into gin and tradition.
The apprentice,
the Soldier's seed,
navigates the delicate balance
between the sun's dreams
and the moon's ways.
Hips sway
after the clover of the stars,
creating a dance
that echoes the celestial rhythm,
Taking nature in the fashion it is.
Within energy’s forte,
the apprentice remains steadfast,
untouched
by the mystic's contagion.
Breeze gently gives life to the air,
ensuring that peace
never topples over,
while the living
is meticulously scripted
in the sealed scroll of existence
The Apprentice knew anew.
In the scroll
where life is inscribed,
the celestial and clay beings converge.
The earth walks ways
where water was weaned
before birth,
guiding life in eleven directions —
light, lead, love, logic, luxury,
and power
flavored on six sticks of nature.
Got my doctorate
In sandbox
With a double major in
Nose picking
Graduated “magna-cum lousy”
From the “driveway art course”
Served an apprenticeship in
“It’s your dog pick up after it”
Rose to great heights tree climbing
Also got to meet the firemen
Taught my parakeet
To BOO those F-N Yankees
Rooted for the RED SOX
A true love/hate relationship
I understand Bill Belichick
But not what he says
If you aim to be a blacksmith, boy,
You’ll need fittings built to last.
So, know that if the anvil rings,
It’s been forged instead of cast.
You’ll need to stand the heat regardless
How the bellows feeds the draft,
And hammer down apprenticeship
While mastering your craft.
You’ll need to tend to all specifics
As to tolerance and measure.
And fashion every masterpiece
As a temporary treasure.
A puddler turns out iron by the ton.
A blacksmith makes the tools that get things done.
That time of the year once again
Thoughts, memories, flooding in
Trying to understand these moments
No one is exempt from emotion.
Parent flash ignored for the present
Back to apprenticeship days
Young and eager to learn
The result was a trade
Father smiled and nodded
Mother adoring watching from afar
Duties include making tea in Billy cans
Making sure each brew was as ordered
Setting out the meals for trades persons
An apprentice master watching over
Angry moods, other times gentle
Mistakes are made and rectified
Guidance comes in strange ways
Words were spoken, not appreciated
Now in later life, understood
At the time, resisted the teachings
Now could hug the person that taught us
There were times when interest dwindled
Prodding and encouragement always given
Now in later years wish for a revisit
Meet and shake their hand?
No, would hug and kiss their cheek
Not only a trades person
But a Mother, or Father
Just doing the best we can
All started by filling billycans.
I Want to Marry You
I want to marry you but not too soon,
Though I vow to love and hold you,
I will wait until you come to your noon,
When you are grown, brave, and through
With education, training, or apprenticeship,
Old enough to know the content of love
When your sun rises, or the moon is in a blip
Over the hills of London, with the seas above.
I want to marry you when you are not flushed,
Or the soft glow on your cheek is dimmed,
Because I don’t want you to feel rushed
Towards a path that's with sadness rimmed;
Beauty glitters on your face and eyes,
I see it rove from your head to your feet,
Soon it will dwell between your burning thighs
Where men groan and bit their clenched teeth.
I am as sure of our love as a fire of a burn,
That our love is not a smoldering flame,
Along the sweltering path of a wilting sun,
Through which we will be but a playful game.
As sure as I will donate a part of my ebbing breath
To you, I love to seal our ever bonding track,
I will not leave you until my hour of death,
Or time and luck against our love crack.
Standing alone
on the altar’s first step,
apprenticeship dethroned
Indentured anew,
my eyes turn inward,
disarmed, but not disowned
A quarter to forever
in the distance ahead,
blank meadows still to quote
The hour glass waiting
upon no man,
to deliver its last joke
Seeds scatter freely,
implanted anew,
words rising where vision bled
Each one a new stone
in eternity’s trail
—the unborn baby fed
(Dreamsleep: March, 2020)
A price is paid when we put our memories on paper
In so far as the printed word an apprenticeship
For craftsmen to weave their genius between them
That take over both astral body as well as breath of life
Opting to hide written treasures from the public eye
While family and friends add concerted aplomb
Or a noteworthy teacher pushes for publication
In revolt of Ying and Yang upon each shoulder
Delectable flavors leave us salivating
On this new treat the masses all want
For a healthy portion of stardust
To replace that starving artist within
We slum dwellers strive through arduous thistles of hardship
We tough it out through the mere adroitness of apprenticeship
We writhe morosely, carrying the world over our shoulders
But we tussle toughly the travails like soldiers
We're the slaves that bolster the aplomb of the upper crust
The hapless mendicants whose ascendancy the haves must thrust
The loyal ignoramuses that politicians use for their puissances
The impoverished natives the government uses to seek aid for its juissances
The kooky denizens that researchers scrutinate as a case study
The inane old guard whom the civilized take as nerdy
We sleep like foiled wolves and wake like champion lions
We carouse in our wobbly shanties like they're our Zions
We wade through the filthy excrement as our daily tracks
These afflict no more, for we've in vain raised our flacks
We accept to be the encumbrances the society discard to roaming sellers
But we know behind the hurdles what we dream, we slum dwellers
grey clouds are entwine themselves
down to my gentle sky of thoughts
a glimpse of reasons
rushes through my words of make believe
as love declines
don´t cry my heart
or mess with love
beware
life is a sea of broken hearts
my heart you are a wave of flowers
colored in orange, yellow, blue
my tongue,
velvet like the fur of a goat
regrets are there but not to share
my heart will you stay alone
to grow beautiful in times of apprenticeship
oh love you love to be so lonely
let me feel you with my heart
you are a ribbon
only i can bend it far
Was at the shop where sandals were sold
A pair of flip-flops was a sight to behold
There were thousands of pairs to wear
All beautiful from a master none compare
There were all kinds of shapes and sizes
But this pair of flip-flops caught my eyes
I grabbed them and put them on my feet
As I saw a man waving across the street
He wore a beautiful smile
And was glorious to admire
He said "Son what's your burning ambition
I need your new sandals to go on a mission"
After years of training and apprenticeship
I've come to a crossroad in our relationship
I've a decision to make today
In following the Master's way
Jesus wants my new sandals today
I'll let Him without having my way
I'll give Him back this life He loaned
I'll give Him everything I owned
It's conventional thinking unravelled,
Waiting on the horns of a dilemma
With brand new ideas : the road less travelled,
Takes me back to sixty-five – the summer.
Exams completed, leaving school behind,
I took a different route from friends and peers.
Engineering was what I had in mind
Instead of academic based careers.
An ad. in local paper caught my eye :
“Electrical Apprenticeship. 5-year
Sandwich Course, Electricity Supply”,
Leading to electrical engineer.
Yes. I took a less frequented pathway
And followed it to where I am today.
Today is a great
Opportunity to rise
Allowing life to
Test apprenticeship lessons
Graduating with honors
Ardent galleon cutting foamy high tide
Each sliver born to venture yet farther
Captain and lady, stout crew by their side,
Still hailed by stalled gray frigate in harbor
You’re bailing water again, foundering
Says the unsubtle, frantic semaphore
Wan efforts to stay afloat floundering
Desperate colors, guilt cannot ignore
Ours not the only ship with billowed sails
Sure hands ride in closer proximity
Yet only our craft you insist to hail
Another failure for your litany
Ere, as your crew, began my sailing craft
On fair seas, through inky nights’ frozen rain
How could I surmise, you color me daft,
My apprenticeship owes eternal chains?
Leaks in careworn hull not of our making
A Dramamine rerun, your sophistry
To sail in your wake, sadly mistaken
Your dry dock is not our trajectory
5/9/16
© Thomas W. Quigley
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