Best Bilges Poems

In the hold tears are shackled
White eyes stare dark corners
Bare breasts hang limpid
Humanity dowsed in sewage

The slaver pitches, rolls
Each wave a fathom from home
Each trough a deeper despair
The screams and creaks in rhyme

Lost souls ghost the gloom 
Living meat on planked beds
The stench of shame...

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sometimes staring at a wordless emptiness of white 
hesitant fingers hover over keys like a fox ears over snow 
It's there reflecting in time's vibration smelling of salt and tar 
Lines twisted taut by steady wind firmly anchored at full sail 
Lights flash erratically through...

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Chapter 13c

In the tracks of these cetaceans 
For as long as he could follow 
So he said to Tor the shipwright 
"I will follow after Matto
 
“In the hope beyond all hoping 
That my boy might yet be living 
For my heart lies in the ocean 
I cannot return without him"
 
Tor knew...

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Chapter 13d

Yet at length he reawakened 
As if in another lifetime 
Han discerned a sound and movement 
Stiffly rose to look about him

And he saw his precious Matto
Crouching near him in the vessel!
That was now half filled with water
Matto quietly worked at bailing 
 
With...

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https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=9tWlUN0pFp4
DORA'S CURSE
by Don Johnson Queensland, Australia

        What was that curse thou did rehearse, just ye and me and him? 
                 How 40...

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A tramp steamer plies an ocean of fog. 
The Chief Bos’n makes a note in the log while the helmsman 
Strains to see beyond the wheel. 
The ship’s Captain leaves the bridge with a groan. 
It’s his preference to be dining alone in his cabin,...

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Off to the sea in ships we all go,
Untested, but cock sure, as iron to a forge

Deck apes, snipes and gunners are we,
Salt spray, steam and gun smoke to deal

Up early and turning to ‘til late,
While pilfered horse cock, cards and dice await

Down to the...

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I’d set upon a long, uncertain voyage.
Twas one to test the pilot’s skeely art
Of navigating perils yet uncharted 
While facing fears to daunt the stoutest heart.
I’d drop the lead to sound the straight and narrow,
Then trim the sail to cross the deep and wide.
I tacked...

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