Long Shipyard Poems

There in the corner of the living room 
on a loveseat meant for two 
now only resides one
there he sits, by a warm fireplace
its occupant a man 
a man have I known only as a...

Read More

AKULA

Mark and I caught the last plane from Ft. Lauderdale to New Orleans to escape Hurricane Andrew, leaving Akula ,our boat, tied up at Rolly Shipyard to face the wrath alone. The next few hell...

Read More

November 19, 2001


Dear Doc and Doris,

	It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen you. I believe it was some years ago at the Sims reunion. That was several years before we moved here to...

Read More

The US Marshall is a tedious branch, that can be manipulated over a process of a deadly undergoing investigation. The perpetrator was very elusive from the get-go. He boards a US Marshall plane rigged to...

Read More

Don Winslow of the Navy at the movies...…., the Lone Ranger, and the shadow, on the radio. Three of my favorite pastimes in Wilmington NC, From just before my first grade in school to the...

Read More

I saw a man die who took a stance
I saw he just wanted to give peace a chance

I saw the boycotts and the embargoes
I saw trafficking in human cargos

I saw hedge funds, junk bonds, oil...

Read More

Odyssey from Africa 15c (Southland, continued...)

Being rich in skill and talent
He soon gained the feel and measure 
Of the boomerang’s employment 
Sent it arching near the treetops 
 
Then returning where it started
As the king...

Read More

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...

Read More

   Built in a Belfast shipyard
 for Shaw Savill ‘n Albion Line.
   On her flagstaff wind ‘n lee
 flew the Southern Cross ensign,
   down a slipway to the sea
...

Read More

One morning, when I was stationed at base operations in Subic, I had a
telephone call. A Filipino shipyard worker had died during the night-shift,
on the job at the navy repair facility, apparently of natural causes....

Read More

I know how to live off the land
I'm a survivalist
I make do with whatever's at hand
I'm a survivalist

It's a mindset,
it's a lifestyle
You must have a soldier's discipline,
be able to endure hardships for a long while

I'm...

Read More

Hephaistos, is it? Barricade the door!
For every time he comes his plan were grand;
And every time he leaves, we were more poor;
And once again is more than I can stand!

There is a ship to build....

Read More

It was a good spot.
A spot near the bus stop.
A spot where on many days the air was filled with aroma
of fruits and vegetables from tables set up in front of markets.
A spot where a...

Read More

Matchstick Bikes 

To tinkers and toilers 
     I salute, 
From mending boilers 
     to weaving jute, 
Man and boy 
     for generations, 
I...

Read More

Albert G Walpole, proud legionnaire
Clerk to the council for all of his days
Lived with his mother in Hartington D'Arcy
Nice little end terrace, quite set in his ways

But one Sunday evening, returning from church
This man of...

Read More

Wash whipping on the clothesline
Time tripping back in my mind
Climb in my wayback machine made by Ford
Come on back with me, somewhere I knew before
Come on baby baby, back where I used to know

Once upon...

Read More

The depth of our love has an infinite range,
as I reminisce on the day that we met.
I will always remember your deepest voice,
a mellifluous sound I will never forget. 

You caught me off guard, while...

Read More

UP   TOO  CLOSE


When I was three I was taken   
To a shipyard for the launch, 
The graceful wetting of a ship -
Elegant sweep of a warship,
Huge yet sleek,  strong...

Read More

In between the doubts and tears forms a founded thought…
scribbles on an old shipyard memo pad
tapping the inside of my skull, waking me…even though I don’t sleep,
offering a collection of dots and dashes to interpret

There...

Read More

Perhaps a conspiracy, but the crew only knows, the
Happenings aboard the USS Eldridge, kept hushed
In a ship that sailed from sea port to time portals
Leaves a feeling this test was not ready, but rushed
Amid the...

Read More

(8/26/12)

My dreams are like shipwrecks at the bottom of the sea
Covered under seaweed, algae, gravel and rocks
Because at its birth, I didn’t give it enough stock.

A dream is like clay and I am the sculptor
And...

Read More

You opened your heart for me
on a Friday evening
after I worked in Green Bay.
My friend who lived near
Milwaukee said you
were the best place
to be in Wisconsin,
the forests
and tourist shops
that lay between
the bay and Lake Michigan.
I...

Read More

Thump, thump...thump, thump
Your heart beats with internal impediment
Making each breath a struggle.
I see your pain,  I feel your anguish,
I dearly love your determination to endure.

I can only imagine how difficult it is to
relinquish days...

Read More

(For more information about U.S.S. Missouri
 visit www.ussmissouri.org/learn-the-history)


About Miss U.S.S. Missouri,
Or affectionately,  "Mighty Mo!"
Second World War surrender documents
Were signed on her in Bay Tokyo.

She was launched from the Naval Shipyard
In Brooklyn in 1944.
Miss Missouri...

Read More

RECRUITMENT

Your country needs you lads, let Lord Kitchener tell you more
Come forward, join the ranks and we’ll send you off to war
You’re fighting for salvation; you’ve got Jesus on your side
Remember that in battle; let...

Read More