Long Tank ship Poems

Russia, my lovely

Why do I remember this now on a Christmas day 
galley boy on a tank ship that was old in 1956
as the youngest of the crew of mostly middle-aged men
it is safe to...

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The shipping accident

It was late evening when the captain of a Russian owner cargo came down from the bridge where he and the first mate had mapped the route from Humberside to Amsterdam. North Sea...

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Egon Hedin the cook
When I joined the ship as a second cook I had trained as a baker, on a tank ship with forty crews, one, who could bake a passable loaf was needed
The cook’s...

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love on the high seas

He was a happy man, had passed the catering exam, and got employment as second cook on a tank ship 
To make happiness perfect his girlfriend had a job on the...

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A boy and shore leave

 The 15 years old boy was standing on the poop deck of an old tank ship
late at night, looking up at the millions of stars over
The Red Sea.

His job was to clean...

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Remembering a dog


When I was young and for us not rich there was
navy academia you could learn engineering, navigation 
and catering, with my eyesight I settled for catering
After going through the grades, I got a...

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A boy and shore leave

The 15 years old boy was standing on the poop deck of an old
tank ship late at night looking up to the millions of stars over The Red Sea.
His job was...

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The end of everything

The master of the old tank ship that resembled a schooner
sat fretting in his cabin; for twenty years he had been
the master of the ship, a friendship between the animate
and the inanimate...

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68 years ago

68 years ago, I was onboard the world's oldest tank ship
wooden decks and looking like a sailing ship more than 
a tanker in the Black Sea on the way to Odesa. 
The sea...

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The Merchant seafarers` war

When world war two started Norway was
neutral but unsure which side to stay on.
The English thought occupying Norway 
but they were too late the German army had
done the occupation.
The British sent a...

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A ship’s last voyage

The tank ship that looked like a schooner finally
made it from the black sea to Reykjavik in Iceland  
The ship dry as the dust of the Sahara surrounded
by undrinkable water, the...

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Who is a Prisoner Now
 
My back yard has high walls and is like sun trap, I sit here and 
get a tan in winters... the walls, cracked, need a lick of paint. 
I can...

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Assassination of President Kennedy 

The tank ship was on the way to Kingston in Jamaica
The sea was deep blue, the weather calm, In a few hours, we could stretch our legs and have a beer...

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Away From the Camera. 

In the Bay of Bengal, near Tripura, a tank ship ran 
aground, an old ship that had been economical for 
its owner, carrying crude for a hungry west and
crewed by low...

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Agoraphobia
 Voyaging from Cuba to South Korea across the Pacific
takes about three weeks on an old freighter, but we knew
it had a beginning and an ending.
We have been held up in our flat for three...

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Fifty Years Ago a Dedication  
It was nice day in the Caribbean Sea I was on 
a small tank ship called “Saphir” a radio message
the president Kennedy had been assassinated.
Deep silence in the mess...

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The Nature of Success. 

On an old tank ship that was so slow it felt as
we were suspended in time, a world shrunk 
only us the ocean and the rhythmic hear beat 
of the engine…...

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The Cow

By the edge of the cliff where the grass is juicy
the cow tried to eat it all the last straw you can say
alas, it tipped over and fell into the sea
and since happened in...

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Voyaging 

The high seas and the battle for a meaning
of life, not on a ship that runs on routine.
The Panama Canal, have I been there once
not sure, I vaguely remember a tank ship
 pulled by...

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