It is true that daylight robs,
it pushes us into sights
that we come to question;
such as the python that lay
like a thick ship’s hawser
in the road, and would not
move for my jeep.
In the blinding dark of night
15 wheelers rumble through here,
the snake would be crushed in minutes,
pushed through its skin like a sausage,
but in the hot empty afternoon
heavy traffic growls somewhere else
bypassing eyes and ears
and the python,
its muscular rib cage moving
as slow as molasses
nudges the day sideways
as my engine idles.
Categories:
hawser, poetry,
Form: Free verse
Sweet lady Mokihana,
on her wedding day,
brings back all the memories,
of the things I did right.
Sunny days in Pupukea,
a fat hawser rope strung between
two acacia trees and
a determined little girl going
hand over hand
all the way.
Easily the equal
to any boy in the neighborhood,
indeed, the world!
Childhood wolfcalls,
echo down the street,
scars on knees, Hawaii bound,
hand in hand to Kammies,
back and forth to Waipahu,
you talking all the way, and
I listened to every word.
As I write these words
I am reading another
history of women, yet,
the odds are that I would not be if
you had never been born.
Oh, sure, I talked a good game, but,
with two sons already,
it was just too theoretical.
Were girl hopes and dreams
as important as boy's?
Your presence taught me
to the depths of my heart,
that, of course, they were.
On your wedding day
all your hopes and dreams
are exactly mine
for you
Categories:
hawser, anniversary,
Form: Free verse
As I drag this rough frame, this ageing shell,
that's carried me across a lifetime to this place
at your feet, I look into your eyes and I ask you
Imagine a proud, wavy crown of auburn hair,
thick and strong, a crown you could
run your fingers through and twirl it, to and fro
Imagine these blue eyes that my father gave me,
still the deepest hue, but sparkling then with no glint
of the sadness that they have come to show
Imagine a face, smooth and fair,
no beard of white, no furrowed brow,
with a smile that would melt your heart
Imagine a laugh with no halt or apology,
in that happy way of youth, a laugh
that called out others to come play
Imagine these arms, then like hawser ropes,
sinews at the ready to hold you tight,
to carry you clear across the world
Imagine this body, like a carving
in those days past, lean and muscled,
wanting for your hands to find their purchase
Imagine now this man, still gentle and kind
but with that blinding glow of youth, waiting,
proudly at your feet to do your bidding
I ask you then, imagine when you
look on this ageing shell, this mortal husk;
that glow still waits inside for you
Categories:
hawser, age, love,
Form: Free verse
Take the rope, boy, pull the hawser hard,
The knot must sit firm and tight.
Remember, we sailed by starlit skies
as the sea took us far from cradling coasts,
far from the sheltering bays and beaches
To where no earth scent reaches
The salt-stained sea-spattered air;
And the gulls, oh, the gulls, sailed
High and morose,
In their flight no memory of land.
Pull harder, boy, harder, and show me your strength,
Pull hard on that hawser with all of your might!
We lived on fish so easy to catch,
Of man they knew nothing,
The virgin shimmering tufted blue
The sky a wan, unearthly hue,
And we sailed and we sailed
Till the limp skies paled,
Till the night gathered round
And the world had no sound.
That’s it! Yes! I feel the ship berthing,
Earthing, and my head so light!
We lived the waves’ unruly heave,
The lurching slapping lapping swagger,
We drew lines between the stars
And danced our eyes on dead horizons,
We lived the stunned torpor of water
When the wind slept its sudden sleep.
We lived beyond life for far too long,
And long now for life once more.
So heave to, my boy, I'll jump ashore,
It takes but a moment to snuff the light.
Categories:
hawser, adventurelife,
Form: Free verse