Long Masts Poems

The strong gust of wind was cut off from its source; a frigid early spring blast that swept across a lofty mountain range, high above British Columbia.

It then encircled one of the lesser peaks and...

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Fishing Boats On The Beach at Les Saintes - Marie’s-de-la-Mer

                  Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1888), Arles, June...

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There once was a nation that was like a beautiful tall sailing ship
It’s mast were like redwood trees lined up in a forest
They bore the stainless white sails of opportunity to catch the winds of...

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The River Mersey and The Black Pearl New Brighton 

Let the Caribee and sultry sea call to the pirates bold. 
But on this shore, with its tales of lore, The Mersey keeps its hold
For merchants,...

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Ah Consuela! Invoking vast vistas for visions of green Spanish eyes,
I discern them again where she left me back then,
                 as we kissed when she parted, my friend.
Through those ruins I tread towards the footlights,...

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Sargasso
..by D Johnson
Fourteen days adrift time slowly slipped 
on the good ship Cavalier 
Becalmed, morose, no water they sipped 
drank rum to calm their fear 
The fog was thick o'er water and ship 
On the...

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Odyssey from Africa, Chapter 11 (d) cont...

Thus the boarding of the parties 
Was a speedy operation 
Very soon the whole flotilla
Sailed toward the open ocean

This wide bay from which the ships set
Sail is called the...

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King Ptolemy the Second (cont.)

Sleek of line for speedy sailing 
It was rugged in construction 
Several layers of well cured timber
Lined the hull and bridge and gunwales 
 
There were four great masts with mainsails
Han...

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                   Those Days of Covid and Roses
         ...

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I be a common salty once
          no captain's bars, did bear
               yet...

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Chapter 11c (The Island Kingdom, continued...)

Every member of the party
Had their fill of roasted sea-flesh
All the dogs and Rosy also 
Wolfed down all that they could swallow 
 
Then they rose up and departed
Heading north...

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Waiting for bubbles 
Here on the pitch 
Hope there will be no trouble 
From Liverpool being in a winning niche 
Known for being paper back writers 
And always having the attitude of being fighters 
The...

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“Phoenix Dreams in the Realm of Crows” 

wake up 
shake up 
kaleidoscope girl

jigsaw
see saw 
fit the pieces

she 
another world
away 

the in-betweeen
flows easily
through the veil

safe harbour 
opening 
portals 

for ocean steering 
curious kaleidoscope
stories to sew

the slip...

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Smooth wood 
Worn by water and air
Never polished 
Escaped by the hands that touched it
Ropes and tackle attached streaming up towards the sails
All foreign to a land lover.
When tied at bay she seems so tame...

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Castle Heartstone sank into the mists of magic 
The Princess of Magic, spell cast 
For one day, 
we shall return 
When Faeries can play 
When The Wise Ways, 
will always last.. 

Our enemies will never...

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no one has the saddle over the wild horse by the name fate
Jose as I had known him, had a life twisted by untamed forces
gifted and talented, we were the best of buddies, our lives...

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Clipper Ships

My mother; she wasn’t there any more
Burned away in chemo radiology
Therapy for the incurable
As she lingered for a year
Lobotomized by cancer

But in her dreams she sailed her clipper ships
Sailed away on the mighty Cutty...

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WEATHER SAILS

What if the clouds themselves were like sails of a giant
Heavenly ship, its masts the very shafts of ethereal light
Cascading from Nirvana itself, white powders weather wings,
Guiding this planetary blue worlds atmosphere, in the...

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SENSITIVITY

They’re all ignored by us, but they have feelings too :
A black  gravestone  in  New York, down in the world, 
Recalling its halcyon days as a part of 
The impressive strata ...

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The Egyptian standard falls, unto histories surrendering, 
The deserts breath, is so stilled,  under the Nile river's
Murky abyss, busted masts, heave against the 
Heavily laden hauls,taring the ships apart,
As the Egyptian fleet sinks beneath...

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A Ship In A Bottle
My great Grand Father sailed to New Zealand on a ship called the Wild Deer in 1872. I have always loved ships in bottles, and one day decided I would drain...

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Floccinaucinihilipilification And Very Little Soul
  (Third and Final Poem- In A Parable style)

Come on down here says the spider to fearful fly
this day weather is so fine and I am your friend
be free, and...

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Deep in the woods, nearly three miles back,
far from New York with its tall glass and steel,
on a low ridge that has no proper name,
I stumble on something that feels surreal.

An old-growth forest grove, somehow...

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High Tide Returns

Once he sailed the fast Clipper of his heart
A mariner over blessed waves
Once on a fathom sea of womanhood
He drew water 
To each compass point in her eyes
His sails were prayers 
Laid in...

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I once knew a poet called William,
Of renown was this Stratford lad.
A writer of plays and sonnets was he
And his gags, they weren’t half bad.
Now Queen Liz wanted him to join t’ army
Cos she’d ...

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