Long Masted Poems

  Oh, to be in Trinidad
when the hot scented currents flow,
  from East Dry River to Nariva 
samaan and silk cotton tree grow.
  Where whisperin’ palms reach
across island reef and coconut lagoon,
...

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We were a poor Yacht Club, lacking prestige, but with knowledgeable sailors who believed in one another and more importantly, our club.  We also had the best boat.  A 65'  two masted...

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Beware young lad, tis the dawning of thy demise,
For the water witches screams, are carried on the
Winds breath, of the tidal waves hurricane.
Be-she, the banshie of the fathom’s abyss, treacherous
Mistress, beguiling temptress, enslavement's captive, 
Whom...

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Stilled again across the canals broadening 
Girth;
Mesh cages of rock-filled Gabions 
Reinforcing patches of exposed and arid earth,
Reflecting the glints that gleefully
Twist and dance in the hot glare of the sun...
Provoking images and stirring indefinable...

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Today I learned, once more, the lesson of loss.
Today I learned of a brother gone.
Tonight I pay my respects, in what words I can muster;
forever he is one of us.

I didn’t know him for all...

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Dropped anchor off the Fever Coast 
‘board a rake-masted schooner
Spooked by Ahab’s ghost. 
Lamps glowered through the yawning blanks
Casting bone-twisted shadows 
Over teakwood planks.
Salt biscuits and Jamaican rum; 
Heard the deep-throated rattle
Of the talking drum.

Count...

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A UK Royal Mail Ship was RMS Rhone
A sail-steamer and a two-masted brig, she shone

Rhone had an iron hull and was 310 feet long
Her compound steam engine made her fast and quite strong

An innovative ship...

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Three faceless Misses
amble amidst vagarious March rains
under parasols / veiled in the anonymity of death/burial 

Three / shifting between tangible lives
breathless bellies barely acclimated to first-life
Brown girls who were shadows before second death

Voiceless / ambassadors...

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SHAPE SHIFTER
-------------------
Whiter than the bright
Light at the dawn of the day
Like an angel I fly
... High across the skies

A giver of life where I can
Amidst the dying bands
God's healing hand
To suture broken lands

Nobility fluorishes as...

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Enchanted Voyage

Aboard the Magnolia paddle steamboat 
Bound down the Mississippi River
Carrying its precious cargo
Daring anyone for a challenge on her beauty and speed
Enchantment captivates guests of its breathtaking beauty a
Fortune spent to showcase and entertain...

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The Fighting Temeraire
I lead this Queen to a guillotine
She follows me with dignity and grace
all English oak and 98 guns.
I am an unsuitable escort for my Lady,
my low born coarseness, the effort of towing her...

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The girl and her smile straddle the rainbow
neon hair the fluid cascades of northern lights
seafoam cloak the ripples outgrown by the shore
she adores the breeze adorned with gems
emeralds fly from silk strings in the wind
kites...

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secret tattoos

a three-masted schooner tattoo on his bare chest
              my father tosses us each
high into the air and we squeal with delight
...

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06 February 2010


Dream of Sailing
By: Noel N. Villarosa


Never sailed on a three-masted sailboat
Where it bustles to find a smooth wave
Where the wind is its engine
And heels above at the wave’s commotion

Feel the quiver of disappearing...

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The draw of the tide...
tugs away inside...
remembered rekindled emotion...
lived on the water ...
remember i ought...
Portugese, on the ocean..

cabin boy ..
on a 3 masted schooner...
we lived on salted pork...
the maggots they walked...
red meat went rotten the...

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Black, Blue’s dream of knowing

Today, eyes heavenward, an unclouded
blue unto eternity.  Look up.  Swim
this fathomless sea far as perspective
can carry.  Leave behind L.A.  Leave used 
shores brown as inversion’s earthbound air....

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as the cool air blows
the barren wasteland regrown
a luminescent glow
feeds the reeds
feeds the trees
photosynthesis reborn
the budding of fruit
nourishment
webs are casted
sails are masted
in preparation of the morn
of the sweet candescent norm
Spring is love
it rises in the...

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Ketch

Keel's deep in water and
Kelp off the bow appears
Kembed as I " keep her luff". 
Knighthead to the South, with
Knots at fifteen, on the
King plank I stand...O' this
Ketch is so mighty yar!

3.8.2017©deborah burch 

Pleiades 

Notes:...

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Balmy currents retire to southern shore
Frosty streams blight earthen floor
Winter's portents roundly deplore
Wistfully longing for summer's store
For gilded fields, masted trees implore
Harvest's stipend succors no more
Residual huskings now cattle's score
Ingratiating beams now seep through trap...

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Heavens right here
It's all right here in your heart
Spirit feeling, moving, breathing right
 here in your chest
and it's all right here in you
Those things you find hard are easy
and it's all right here in you
Those...

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Billowing white
A tall masted ship
Gleaming wet
Sped on
In to a setting sun
 
Mizzen and top gallants flying
Such golden light
Fell upon a ship
That sped on 
In to the setting sun
 
Billowing white
Translucent too
Such golden llight
Fell upon a...

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