Long Schooners Poems

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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Autumn In The Air - Hooray

Respite from punishing 
     heat wave - yay
which above line,
     could "speak" volumes,
     and be a stand alone...

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The Bass Strait sealing rush began in eighteen-o-three,
where at least a dozen vessels were wrestling with the sea,
for the China trade was booming, for the want of skins and oils.
This was the first real export,...

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The front bar of the Criterion is filling up,
It’s after five and the patrons are filing in.
Placed orders echoing off the old timbers 
Vying to be heard and adding to the din.

The Grand Old Lady...

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I sat by a moonlit window last night
As sleep did not come- elusive as the Dugong-
My eyes but portal gazing wide into a deep vast sea.

The songbirds were hushed except for the nightjars and owls.
A...

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Written: August 18, 2023
Pantoum Poetry Contest                      Sponsored by: Regina McIntosh
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The moon rises high in...

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You`re off to the pub to see your mates
The beers cold and wet...and flows like the tide
And the first six schooners don’t touch the sides

Then you feel a warmth just start to creep
And throughout your...

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You're sitting on your bike. 
You can hear the birds singing, 
As they fly into the blue sky. 

One bike starts, the lady across the road jumps 
As the bike fires into thunder, 
Sixty other...

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You're sitting on your bike. 
You can hear the birds singing, 
As they fly into the blue sky. 

One bike starts, the lady across the road jumps 
As the bike fires into thunder, 
Sixty other...

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my friend,
          beacon, bright ...
               how you have bewitched my years,
 ...

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They left their father's hearths, those stalwart pioneers,
To follow their dreams to the west seeking new frontiers.
They laded Conestoga wagons and without a backward glance,
With faith and fortitude, ventured into that vast expanse!

They gathered at...

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The ship has docked in Sydney harbour officials
have come and gone now the ship is eerily silent, 
yet noisy slamming of doors and someone taking
a shower…laughter. How can I sleep tonight with 
the engine stopped?...

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Leaving the dock, sounding the bells
Captain at stern, strong water swells
Winds give rise, full ahead call
Clear blue sky, no noted squall.

Boston harbor hosting, ships are notable
Schooners to Barque, old and admirable,
Sailing from Europe, Canada and...

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Mermaids weathered many crossings
Along side the schooners on the seas.
Even though they could calm the waves,
They were completely forbidden to do so
By Neptune the very stern God of the sea.

Turbulent waves and winds, sails ripping,
And...

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'Midst cannon smoke the sun arose, blood red

          To spread the night's cold horrors on the bay

         ...

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With billowed sails the Schooner glides across the open sea
The crew secures the rigging as they’ve done through history
Port side there’s a Humpback coming up to take a look
They watch in pure amazement its like...

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The Sparrow. 
The stage was enormous partly dark; floor board made
of the decks of stranded schooners 
a sparrow came shuffling in, slightly bent too much time spent
at street corners singing for a few shilling had...

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This rusting chain is witness to an age
When slate was quarried from these ancient cliffs
And where one hundred quarrymen earned a wage.
This harbour, filled with steamboats, schooners, skiffs,
Became a hive of industry, back when
Demand for...

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Seven ships sailed south to Salem
Sacks of spices sweet sacks of salt
Riding wave’s ridges roughly
Roughly riding seas to south

Blue shallows secrets silent secluded traps
With coral teeth and rocky cracks
Fountains sprout from huge fish backs
The Kraken...

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