Boat Poems

I'm playing seafaring games on the marble table,
sketching between the blue striations of the stone, 
a slab that resembles an ocean to my young mind.
I draw armadas and stick figure Spaniards,
foes that fall into shark-infested waters. Cannons roar silently.

Mum is...Read More

We were waiting to board a boat when I happened to be blessed
to come across a bench close by the ocean…
this bench was facing west.

With an inscription from a husband to his wife…
now obviously gone
It read ‘Judy, in “All Ways”...Read More

Take death back
The doctor's objective
review
Argues and
life skills

Take death back
Death involves a loss
Essential treatment,
whatever price?
The ballad of life

Take death back
One last act
on one's existence
overwhelming
The vulnerable situation
always an uncertainty

Take death back
Life's rowing boat, without oars
Free entrance
Not today, not tomorrow
not this month
Life ...
-...Read More

When my hollow present blows
The dying embers in the heart grate
A fond childish Cinders glows up

The frozen black memory melts past colours,
A sparkle of rainbow recollections,
As I walk up on our trodden pavement
I saw a slash of sea between houses

Thy...Read More

Crossing the vast lake on a flimsy boat,
Splashing hurriedly the violent waters;
Watching the seagulls roaming about,
Enjoying the outing with my daughters.
 
Splashing hurriedly the violent waters,
Squalling seagulls sip the morning sunshine;
Enjoying the outing with my daughters,
Mary was laughing but not...Read More

The Peripheries of Love
by Michael R. Burch

Through waning afternoons we glide
the watery peripheries of love.
A silence, a quietude falls.

Above us—the sagging pavilions of clouds.
Below us—rough pebbles slowly worn smooth
grate in the gentle turbulence
of yesterday’s forgotten rains.

Later, the moon like a...Read More

Grand Howl for the Sea

Oh I howl!
Longing to be free…
But I remain, landlocked to a people
Growling and hissing you must face your responsibilities!

Indebted to a society into which my debts never seem to end.
I long to be a Man-child, Hidden...Read More

Grand Howl for the Sea

Oh I howl!
Longing to be free…
But I remain, landlocked to a people
Growling and hissing you must face your responsibilities!

Indebted to a society into which my debts never seem to end.
I long to be a Man-child, Hidden...Read More

 
The sun upon my face blinds me as my boat rocks gently
through the rolling swells that lap against the hull.
The sound of the droning engine mesmerizes my mind
bringing a dreaminess to this bright cool winter morning.
Watching the shore, the...Read More

Sheila grew up in a shanty town
Met a shanty man in woods round
Lived in a shanty shack for quite a while
But her shanty man never did truly smile

So she moved on to a shanty boat
Mississippi living easy as a float
Sheila...Read More

         Purpous the plane Lisin sane
         Light you hold thay wish Bold
         It"s wear it"s prased,
...Read More

In the middle of the lake, I was in a metal boat
A storm brewed lightening, where I was afloat

11/29/19
Entry for Hit me an Epi-Pen Poetry Contest.  Sponsor Maureen McGreavy
Theme:  Reaction
...Read More

The Living Word

In a country, far from this place. 
The word is not written down. 
They are not allowed. 
They will hunt you, 
and kill you…
for speaking
hope and heresy. 

They gathered. 
The sons and daughters…
Missionaries of Light. 
They read by...Read More

There is a city that is calling to me.
But right now, it’s as far as far can be.
I will go there one day, of that I am sure,
But it will probably take a year or more.
I’m coming to you, Paris.

I...Read More

It is far, far better that I see
and train my eyes to look for thee.
Try, trying, tried but to no avail,
To gaze upon shores through fog’s veil
For a glimpse of my dear city Cork. 
...Read More

I saw the bitter tears of unhappiness
Running down your agonizing face,
Ravaged with pain,

And I became a sponge of compassion
To absorb them.


I heard the howling 
Of your starving stomach,
Echoing throughout your rebellious drained veins,

And I became a sweet loaf of bread
To...Read More

Took the hop-on, hop-off boat
To Skansen in the cold, 
An open-air museum
Worth the visit, we were told.

We wandered 'round and stopped inside
Old farmsteads, barns and school 
Where guides in olden costumes
Told the history, so cool.

Varieties of animals,
From ponies, goats and...Read More

Bouts of lightning flashes,swirls
And lightens up the pitch, black night
Of our neck of the woods
Tailgated by stealthy footsteps 
Of growling, grunting, moaning and roaring thunder,
As in gnashing and grinding of canine
As rain, like beads of sweat, acne and goose pimples
Break...Read More

Aye, Aye Captain
That's what sailors say
When all is ready
To travel on their way

To far off places
And get the ship afloat
When all is in order
On this orderly boat

A boat has to be tidy
It's a huge ship
With a place for everything
Put to...Read More

In August, 1628,
A Swedish warship sailed,
Yet on her maiden voyage
Every safety system failed.

The Vasa, tall and narrow,
Was too heavy on the top.
She teetered in the wind and then
She couldn't seem to stop.

Her trip was 20 minutes;
It took just 5 more...Read More

Squalling seagulls sip the morning sunshine,
Disturbing the tranquility below,
Where ripples break the surface of the brine;
Some fishing boats complete the day's tableau.

Disturbing the tranquility below,
The noisy gulls dive down towards the sea,
Some fishing boats complete the day's tableau
In typical summer...Read More

I know what it's like
when the water keeps rising,
while the plans that you made
all seem to be revising...
Choose not to drown...
When there's no solid ground 
that your toes can grasp onto,
change is burning your ship
fire smouldering around you...
Choose not to...Read More

As energy crosses its boundaries 
I've realized not all understand
that sometimes what we take on
is what helps others find land...
I can see the sinking or struggle
and I'm just here to help you float;
I've found we can drop the bundles 
instead...Read More

GHOST MOON

WRITTEN BY JEFF R HILTON  2019


THE NIGHT TURNS
TOWARD THE DAWN
THE SKIES
STILL CARRY THE STARS
THE MOON YAWNS
AT THE RAYS
OF THE RISING SUN

A ROOSTER CROWS 
WAKING UP SOME
ANCIENT DREAM
SOMEWHERE
DEEP INSIDE
WHERE THOUGHTS LINGER
AND INDECISION 
FIND A PLACE
TO HIDE

BLUE SKIES FULL OF...Read More

The wicked is calling the wicked 
wicked
Oh what a wicked
The wicked is calling the wicked
Wicked
Who is really wicked?
The wicked is calling the wicked 
Wicked
Can’t you see that something is wicked?
Wicked man,
 Wicked woman, 
Wicked boy,
 Wicked girl
Wicked church
Wicked preacher
Wicked teacher
Wicked...Read More