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A single ant, black as charred bark,
parts the silver skin of the puddle~
its legs dimple the water,
each step a tremble of tiny ripples.
The leaf, wide as two ants side by side,
rides its back like a ship’s wrecked sail,
tipping with the weight
of a world too large to name.
Legs piston through water,
dark and wide, a sea to him,
with this leaf, his bride.
Each step is a tremor in the tiny world.
A current whispers, but the ant
does not listen.
Shadows of giants loom above~
a boot, a wheel, the indifferent sky.
The ant pauses, antennae tasting fear,
then presses on. The far shore
is a myth worth drowning for.
Halfway, it pauses again~
not to rest, but to recalibrate,
rearranging the world
one stubborn millimeter at a time.
The wind’s rough tongue licks at the load,
yet still he drags his emerald barge
to the far shore,
to dry earth.
The far shore is everything.
One Matthew McGregory Hale
Was thought to resemble a whale.
I don't mean so large,
Nor shaped like a barge,
But spouting out words like a gale.
Outside my office window, is a field with a canal running through it,
Today people have turned up with diggers and dumper trucks and are digging the field up bit by little bit.
Oftern barges slowly and gently go with the flow and casually moor there,
But now with all that equipment just to go ashore they have to really beware.
Don't know why they are doing this, no one is really sure,
It's probably to build new houses, everyone knows we need more housing stock,
But you jst can't help feeling they are taking the countryside apart rock by rock.
Four young men and quite large
Are cruising the mall like a barge.
But I, diddle, diddle,
Fit as a fiddle,
Aim my cane at the middle and charge!
Wind sweeps down the side of the mountain
Crosses tracks and flings itself across the river,
First slapping against the sides of the tugboats
Causing the deckhands to shiver and curse
As they check the lashing between the barges,
Several days before they reach the sun
And longer still before arriving at the delta,
In the meantime, they work as fast as they can
with pea coats fastened against oncoming blasts
Of bitter chill, and careful avoiding icy patches
On the walkways of the behemoths they tame
Young men romanticize working on the river,
Unaware of the dangers, seems an easy job.
They do not know of bodies mangled, crushed
Chain unhitched, a single misstep, a sudden jerk
When least expected, pay beneficiaries for a life.
written December 9, 2021
Barge Reef
Barge Reef lies isolated at worlds end by chance
Wedges of sharp rocks fill in what ocean can’t
Eighty foot waters roll at a distance out
Waves say hello on cresting white
Coral formed and bleached silent
Created from living life forms
On the wrong side of the island according to the charts
West of Barge is open seas
Liquid wonders that follow the world around
A tumbled dance
Storms pound constantly there creating havoc
Waves take naps much later beneath the deep
Descending back around
Rolling into a slumber as cool brushings over surface
Calm winds take a breath
Ships find their corner of the world in blue
Slip Into delinquency, there, slow to rise
Sun finds the horizon hot
Jellying through mist
Mystification sets in, as it morphs through morn
There, so easy to find a new day in abundance solar bound
Creaking ships never land but crash on Barge with jagged reefs
Sharp coral stand pure white on the vestibule of shards
Sojourning innocently forward
Ambling along with wood debris
To that end, begins in splinters sober float
And with it, seas fold over on the likes of Barge
Hollow barge
A requiem.
Fire inside
Volcano.
White wolves
red snow.
Mountain
Swirling wind.
Fish
Vigilance.
A hen
call.
A girl
Wild fire.
Crow
Black astronaut.
Lizard on wall
Waiting.
Mosquito
blacklisted flautist.
Frogs
Deep sleep.
Five white roses
Touch.
Rock
A hermit.
On this
Life’s sorrowful
barge I doth float
Much too
much a traveler
Alas too far
remote
from any
hearing and
caring Being
Caining
me not
Hamming distance
in the
afterworld
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