Best Barnacled Poems

The tide worn and barnacled pylons
holding up the wharf wobble 
on a sea swell like loose teeth.
Most of the decking planks
are missing. Those that remain 
span joists with bones
of rotted wood fastened down
with rust. A chain wire fence 
bars public access
and a large red sign
screams...

Continue reading...

 On bowride below gentle titans peep
   ghost ships of the Pacific hunt and chase -
 great barnacled seafarers of the deep
   beneath the waves its clear blue waters grace.
 Where yon an old boneyard whaling station
   fluking bulls...

Continue reading...

Arrogant autocratic Ahab
Sails set seaward
Heartless harpoon high
 
Wind wracked Waves
Revenge rage regret
Wretched white whale
 
Opaque Ocean oblivious
Deep dark dangerous
Titanic terrors traversing
 
Captain callous cold
Blood bought bonds
Obsidian oaths ordured  
 
Foreboding fears fester
Sacrosanct silent seas
Motionless midst moonset
 
Dim daylight dawned
Spray shot skyward
Lithe Longboats launched
 
Barnacled...

Continue reading...

The sirens and mermaids
called up from the deep,
untangled mesh nets
blithely held out by sleep.
There the first to emerge
were the sighs and the nods,
they sank then resurfaced
in clear Morphean pods.

I found myself wandering
on a wide stretch of beach.
My mind squeezed like a lemon,
my thoughts fuzzed like...

Continue reading...

Deep ocean of azure blue

Overhead seagulls circling flew

In constant motion, heaving sides

The old merchant ship upon it rides

Rust scorched it's barnacled coat

Salt encrusted railings forever afloat

On the horizon's sinking sun's amber glow

Beckons enticingly along the flow

New moon appearing from out of the west

Silvery waves splintering...

Continue reading...

Her indifference was merely a façade,
Mine too, if truth be asked, it might have been.

The day had been an autumn harvest festival,
A ballroom packed with clichés ringing as bells
A banner was strung across the sky that read, 

       ...

Continue reading...

The Love boat


Love is such a tossed about word
‘I love you’ we say
But often we neglect to see
We have forgotten to truly care
A rough word written or spoken
Can often break a heart
Have we become so calloused 
Like the barnacled hull of a ship
Desensitized to understand...

Continue reading...

Climbing o’er the jagged rocks reddened by the setting Sun
Still the mellow roar went on cadenced by a crashing one
Roaring on the rocks below, the barnacled and musseled throw
A carpet of surprise, the water rushing down in waterfalls
Flashing in the sparkling sun the seagull sails...

Continue reading...

63.
      If Dullness Be Your Plunder

    Speech be silence gone amiss
    But if speech be ne'er to be.
    Choose words with some conviction
    Lest you dare to weary...

Continue reading...

The Ruba’iyat of Créteil Lake – Part Eleven

Once a wounded turtle dove ground out its pain in a bare poplar
When autumn sunset bid bitter farewells to the lone star
Three black liana lassies trudging homeward swayed to strains:
‘It’s not a second, Seven seconds away,’ from Africa

One...

Continue reading...

Harpoon raised,
 the chaser boat in full flight.
Coiled rope, explosive head,
 cold steel reflects
                the fading light.

Oil spill blood
 surrounds the ship,
a flag aloft with Japanese crest.
 Shouts of glee,...

Continue reading...

Christmas for stolid, hermetic recluse
Recidivistic mind all sentimentality doth refuse
Token, lifeless symbols; pageantry will recuse
Pawned, second-hand trinkets now in disuse
Barnacled to limbs drooping to spindling angles obtuse
Garnishments that jilting time accrues
Hung sloppily, stunted timber's temporal dues
Strings of patchwork lights will fuse
Faded colored-cones baring every bruise
Creased...

Continue reading...

Drifting Away

All alone one might think they stand in muddy water unclear
Now feeling like a drowned rat in time and not utter a peep,
Where all at once there might have been a wooden pier
Like a wooden driver pilings driven in still waters so deep.

Crustily, dusty...

Continue reading...

I’ve been drifting for such a long time
This old ship with its seafaring ways
But big waves ever harder to climb
Seem to threaten to shorten my days

This old ship and its seafaring ways
Barnacled heavy with bowing of masts
Seem to threaten to shorten my days
I just wonder...

Continue reading...

Christmas decor has begun to bore
Season's diminishing returns must not ignore
Ingenious craft stagnates; no longer hearts implore
Straggling trinkets of blithe, Christmas lore
To be quickly discarded or saved for dated encore
Spent wreaths fading yellow on every crest, door
Stray needles scattered around porch and floor
Mellowed holly berries...

Continue reading...