A lonely life it’s not easy being a fisher’s wife
but loneliness can be a compassionate companion
unbridled spite of bucking boss-mare-waves followed you ashore
her turmoil roiled the blood in your veins
and no amount of vodka
could flatline her seething heartbeat inside you
I saw her in your storm-full eyes eyes the color of stormy seas
you wore your hair in dark waves like hers a windblown tangle
I saw her in your storm-full eyes spindrift and steel blue —
rage of the Bering Sea against a canvas-sky the portrait of your eyes
your tongue-shard slashed at me like a broken bottle in hand
word-squalls blew and fist-storms
flew like splintered glass
piercing me to my marrow till I glistened
but… I could never glisten like her unblemished face at dawn
years of boss-mare-waves ground you down – razor edges worn smooth
your storm-tossed-heart now floats.. a lost raft on a tamed tsunami
your flat-sea-eyes the ancient blue of glacier ice
frosted over dull yet with a faint glow of stories you can’t tell
as you search a cognitive wasteland for words as harmless as sea glass
Not long to go now until we are
told we will know
How the next 4 year's are bound
to pan out
As the way it's been reported on
it's almost like we have a casting
vote or have a say in it ourselves
Bering in mind however or whichever
way it pan's out it is entirely up
to them not us
I highly doubt they care what we think
anyway as they have far more pressing
problems to deal with
And when such a big deal is made
of Russian interference why or how
come we don't feel the need to but
out either
If you believe in the supposition
that the news media are the so
called all knowing visionaries
they proport to be like our very
own BBC
Then this election is moot anyway
And just how much power can
or does a President really wield
in an actual democracy
Only a Dictator who rules by
an iron fist is trully blessed
with the gift of absolute power
Ask any old ordinary folk who lives
in say Russia, China, Iran, Afghanistan
or Saudi Arabia
On the basis of if no one is looking
over there shoulder or they are
reading verbatim from a script
Pause, smile for effect praise
the leader and maybe you will
see your family again
It's easy to lose your bearings in the Bering Sea
Or your yo-yo in Tokyo get what I mean
How about this
Being squished by a fish
The fish needs to apologize, that's totally obscene
It's easy to lose your bearings in the Bering Sea
Or your yo-yo in Tokyo get what I mean
How about this
Being squished by a fish
The fish needs to apologize, that's totally obscene
Silly?
HISTORY IS UNTRUE
Columbus discovering America? Yeah? Who says?
Only after a small army of Vikings from overseas
Traded and raided on the coasts for centuries;
And Brendan had navigated from Ireland to the Bronx;
Not to mention precolumbian wrecks of Chinese junks
Found in the sandy bottom of San Diego harbor;
And the Mongoloid footsloggers who tiptoed south to Ann Arbor
Across the floes of the Bering Strait a millennium before.
Hunger led you through
the Bering Straits
to discover new possibilities
in the foreign, distant land.
You were hunters, brave and great,
chasing animals for your survival,
walking thousands of miles –
hunting to sustain existence.
Your other brothers,
set sail in their catamarans
from Polynesian Islands
through the ocean expanses.
Roaring winds, mass of water,
walls of treacherous waves,
sinking many of your boats -
huge billows of water were falling
to the abyss, on your ships.
The bravest of you,
came to the new shores
of imaginary, fantastic worlds.
Then, thousands of years later
came hostile brothers to the lands of yours.
They put claim on your dominion
and they diminished many Native Nations.
Ancient ways of life
those of yours, distinct culture,
which they wrongly understood,
putting their seal of polluted world.
Man of the Bering Sea
Met a man who lives near the Bering Sea
Whom displays a vastness of proclivity?
Or he’s often exposing his austere propensity
For unto many of his long-winded prolixity
Each and every day he foretells a fishy story.
Everyone knows of his many ideals of banality
Of him often failing to come to a finality
To his many unrealistic fish-catch stories
Many of his friends pretend to show expectancy
To his many frenzy of penchant of tales longevity.
His closest friends knew of his chance to be
In his chosen book of the Guinness book for brevity
For certain it may be labelled zero to none, not by
chance mon ami
For that man who lives on the shores of the Bering Sea.
Written: 6/20/15
Theresa Marie
Alaskan Friendship of Winter
winter brief
my golden moments
vibrate in your darkest hours
as our fingertips
entwine, to ride the rollicking
hellbent Bering Straits
Written for my dear Euro friend, Ellie Daphne
V Anderson-Throop 2013
The Arctic Fire Bugs
Ice nights are the playpen
For the kids born to this land
Skating rinks and bowling shoes
Never touched a hand
Or foot that kicked at blocks of ice
As thick as you are tall
They scoff at jackets toss their hats
While through the drifts they crawl
Gather wood and getting high by tearing limbs from trees
Boozing up to get a buzz in temperatures that freeze
Building up a bonfire that will signal all their friends
Friday night is party night till sirens scream the end
Now it comes the fun part when they run from chasing cops
Scatter all directions and ignoring calls for “stop”--
Game they play that irritates and costs the city bucks--
What else is there to do unless they steal the fire trucks?
Note: In Alaska outback, bonfire is the key meeting place for teens--this poem is based on my teen son and his mode of fun in Valdez, Alaska--350+ miles from the next city--a town at the end of a long road (the Richardson Highway) with only one town tat the edge of the Bering Sea (often called North Sea).
Fire and Ice Contest
November 27, 2012
Victoria Anderson-Throop
HISTORY IS BUNK
Columbus discovering America? Yeah, right !
Only after a small army of Vikings from overseas
Traded and raided on the coasts for centuries;
And Brendan had navigated from Ireland to the Bronx;
Not to mention precolumbian wrecks of Chinese junks
Found in the sandy bottom of San Diego harbor;
And the Mongoloid footsloggers who tiptoed south to Ann Arbor
Across the floes of the Bering Strait ten millennia before.
GETTING TOO OLD
Her story told by old charts, scattered, water-drenched.
Portholes all broken, shaft and screw missing : a wreck ,
Grounded on concrete platform like an old man sitting on bench,
Battered funnel, broken hawsers, holes in deck.
Tell you stories about the old days when he mattered.
Eyeglasses cracked. Some say he has a screw loose :
Old man on a bench, like a ship in dry dock, rust splattered,
Battered hat, torn trousers, holes in shoes.
Endured war sagas at the siege of Malta,
Braved storms in the Bering Sea - ice cold,
Saw exotic island sunsets in Straits of Malacca,
With cargoes varied, they traveled the world.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Written for Matt Caliri’s Contest “Write A Backwards Poem”
WRECKS
Battered funnel, broken hawsers, holes in deck,
Grounded on concrete platform like an old man sitting on bench,
Portholes all broken, shaft and screw missing : a wreck ,
Her story told by old charts, scattered, water-drenched.
Battered hat, torn trousers, holes in shoes,
Old man on a bench, like a ship in dry dock, rust splattered,
Eyeglasses cracked. Some say he has a screw loose :
Tell you stories about the old days when he mattered.
With cargoes varied, they traveled the world,
Saw exotic island sunsets in Straits of Malacca,
Braved storms in the Bering Sea - ice cold,
And endured war sagas at the siege of Malta.
Bigfoot may have evolved from an extinct specie of ape known as Gigantopithecus.
That is, if Bigfoot does indeed actually exist.
Gigantopithecus was a knuckle walker like the great apes of today,
and I see no reason why it couldn't have evolved into a bi pedal way.
Gigantopithecus fossils have been found throughout Europe and Asia.
It could have very well have crossed what is now known as the bering strait
without getting its feet wet into a very, very ancient America.
So yes, I'd say it's very possible that Bigfoot does actually exist.
Bigfoot could very well be a descendant of Gigantopithecus.
If you are out there Bigfoot, heed my words seriously.
Keep yourself in hiding or in a laboratory you'll be.
Dedicated to Dane Ann Smith-Johnsen (Your blog post inspired me to write this piece)
I’ve climbed the Rocky Mountains
Beholden to it’s majestic splendor
I’ve hiked the Painted Desert far
Questing to find my life’s meaning
I’ve stood before the Alaskan glaciers
Marveling at natures awesomeness
I’ve sailed the Bering Sea alone
Just to step foot on the other side
I’ve surfed the fire of Kilauea’s eye
Staring her down announcing…I am
I’ve discovered the landscapes of my world
Finding the delicate essence of life
That shines an existent symbiotic beauty
And reflects what’s next to come for me