Long Steerage Poems

Today we begin with a quote from Eisenstein
with commentary in brackets
informed by Bucky Fuller's cooperative metaphysic 
of Synergetic Steerage.

"We have a[n intuited, autonomic systemic] need to stay in contact with people with whom we share...

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That which is neutral,
no big deal,
normal,
not noticed,
enjoys an intimate mirror effect,
behaves and misbehaves
with the logic of eternity.

Time steers virally clockwise,
eastern dawn toward west's setting sun,
birth through death,
with day's completion duskly hoping
for red skies at night.

Time...

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People anticipated, and waited for the day they could gaze upon my beauty, and that they did. The men adored me, the women admired me, and the children were in awe of me. 
Everyone loved...

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You may have heard the 3rd class would dance
and many among them did not stand a chance
to be rescued out of the tragic Titanic disaster
but have you heard more of their heroic pastor

Who in 1912,...

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1. Not thrown out of the show business
every year’s good and never less
my age placed in his mind’s steerage
I’m down to prove he won’t manage
it is no different loving him
I'm older but with the same...

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She couldn't contain her rhapsody demeanor much more
hugging her husband and gushing with excitement as he closed the door
the third class cabin was modest but she thought it would do
finally spending time together in this...

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I'm Just Getting Started

I'm just getting started, though I'm not in control,
But I am all dressed and indubitably, very well-composed,
virtuously loved by many, with honored adulation exposed,
so I lie and wait, but ready to go,...

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From each according to his ability
gains little traction in a world
where ability is so obviously diminished
just take an honest look around you
sound bites are no longer protection
against an epidemic of eyes wide shut
presumably a long...

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A Lady Waits

The sleepy sea massages a creaking ship which slowly navigates
through blackness the sky emanates and the great Atlantic integrates.
A sailing school of serenading seagulls dips and dives and celebrates,
and amongst the sea-sick shipmates,...

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At the birth of every male child,
At his hair-cutting event styled,
At first birth-celebrations wild;
At his sister's ear-ring pomp, mild,
At school when their admissions filed,
Blasts the crumb, whole soul forces, piled...!

When enjoying a silent sleep, 
When...

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I knew the day we met that we were meant to be
I realized our destiny was set and she was the one for me
She was rich in beauty but poor for she will die with...

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They hailed her as the empress of the waves
Supreme upon the ocean’s vast domain,
Yet those who watched her launch, and bid ‘Godspeed’,
Could never have foreseen her fleeting reign.

She left Southampton heading for New York;
The sky...

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Travelling to America with hopes of a brand new life;
Crammed into steerage with his young child and his wife.
It took his whole life’s savings and some borrowed money too;
Dreams of prosperity, this trip would get...

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Grandpa Francesco Proia,
from Caserta, Italia,
a clever stowaway 
in the bowels of the ship
bringing him to Ellis Island,
Feb. 4, 1905.
Gruff ways,
often snarling a guttural “Huh,”
a lack of English,
never-ending hand gestures,
made me fearful of him.
But awestruck I...

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Make Way for the Mighty Titanic

By Elton Camp

Of its age, it was the crowning achievement
Never would it come to experience bereavement 

The powerful ship that even God couldn’t sink
Commenced its voyage across the huge drink

For...

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Cold Coffee they call him
and only a few people know
his real name, this odd fellow

who raises pigs off the coast 
of Ireland and comes to town
bouncing in his horse and wagon

to buy supplies but not...

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War of subtleties
Terse battles
Sanctioned victories
Temporal losses
Shooting blanks
Dull blade
Cassanova's gaze
Mata Hari senses
Jagger's "Moment has passed"
Frost "Two roads diverged..."
Thunderous crash
Newborn's coos
White lies
Dark truths
A trident
A halo
Demons
Angels
Trump's hair
Hitler's mustache
Casting spells
Reading scriptures
The White House
The House of Horrors
Halls of Congress
Hall of...

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Trailing naked toes, hat low peaked
fingers laced abaft head and sun,
white-water gently threading through
the webbed keel of one foot.

The sky is blasting blue,
splotching louder blobs of cobalt
around a midday solar blaze.
Even the river billows,
heaps uplifted...

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He is watching an in-flight movie,
staring at it in steerage
as he fades away.

The boarding procedures were too slow,
there were delays.
Tightly stringed tensions
arose between ears and nose.
Cardiac murmurs grew raucous.

He is a pilot, but not on...

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The finest ship of the White Star Line,
Titanic majestically sailed the brine
A floating palace of opulence
A thing of beauty and elegance

But beauty is but a fragile veneer
And conceals a truth more austere
Into the depths Europe’s...

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