He sits quietly on a cargo hatch,
Patiently watching deck apes
Secure rat guards to hawsers.
They make his job a little easier.
There’s no requesting liberty.
Not even the thought of it.
The Bos’n won’t approve.
It’s been entered in the deck log,
He’s a ship’s cat.
He's always on the watch list.
He never goes ashore.
Categories:
hawsers, adventure, allegory, allusion, animal,
Form: Blank verse
Sail away
Cast off those hawsers
That tie the spirit to the quay
Lift the anchor of your soul…
Catch the wind in billowed sail
Set the course
Then sail away…
Permit the wind to be your master
Let chance rule the day
Take no heed of others needs
Embrace Nature…
Sail Away…
Free the binds that fetter feelings
Give free reign to oceans of emotion
Feel the deck beneath you reeling
Let the sea spray be your lotion
Free the tiller…to the whims of Nature
Loose the bonds to rote and routine
Feel the joy of rampant rapture
Loose the binds of mankind mean
And sail…sail away
108 words-21 lines
Categories:
hawsers, adventure, environment,
Form: Free verse
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”
Categories:
hawsers, adventure, life, nostalgia, old,
Form: Quatrain
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.
Categories:
hawsers, adventure, nostalgia, peopleold, old,
Form: Quatrain
scorned sailor's warnings
turbines chewed November gales
writhing hawsers coil
swirl purple sundowns
cackling, taunting, demons deep
scaling mountain waves
last love message sealed
nod to comrade's final fate
flashes up ahead
Split Rock Lighthouse near
Superior's saving light
Davy's Locker scorned
loved ones exhale fear
raise a pint to brotherhood
distant nightmares sleep
Categories:
hawsers, adventure,
Form: Haiku