Long Tugboats Poems

To crouch beside him in the rows,
Counting seeds beneath rainbows.
Three in each hole, I’d count with glows.
He let me help; his garden grows. 

To sell the pears he grew and picked.
Red wagon wheels click-click, clacked,...

Read More

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...

Read More

It happens mostly out of sight, 
under cover of the world,
life ebbing away or is seized
by a claw or fang, suffering
in corners, enduring what fate
cruelly inflicts. Each night, 
millions die, are torn, choked, 
or swallowed...

Read More

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...

Read More

Fierce tempest slams its maddened jeer
    while gush of flood crashes offshore ;
 then to our village…loud winds roar
as piercing thunder grows severe:
    Upon tide's  crest pale mollusk...

Read More

The green leafed tree in the harbor.
There the freights are advanced.
Sailors with quality tools, while 
diners feast and play chess. The edge
Of the merchants dine hall has a Blindspot
where tugboats honk there horn to
enter the...

Read More

Easy spirit. Bones erased into dust. Much heavy man made nothing in seconds. 
Justice is meaningless before the mountains of death 
Harmony in silence
Waking inside a spider web of my own creation
Junk food makes me...

Read More

Wind sweeps down the side of the mountain
Crosses tracks and flings itself across the river,
First slapping against the sides of the tugboats
Causing the deckhands to shiver and curse
As they check the lashing between the barges,
Several...

Read More

Tugboats glide up river
towards their twilight rendezvous.
The trees on the far bank
are filling with birds gathering
for their nightly roost. 
I have come here 
to take in the calm, to make
my peace.

I never know what to...

Read More

There were evenings
when you could hear - way off -
tugboats signaling to each other
with short blasts
from their horn
as they pushed and nudged
a ship into port.
Or the rumble and clang
of hatches closing
over cavernous holds
at the end...

Read More

I sat on a redwood dock 
 in the town of Crescent City. 
 My mom had recently died. 
 and my heart was full of pity. 

 South Carolina is my home 
 but...

Read More

Other places have their charms,
Like oceans, mountains, forests, farms
And I can visit and admire
Why they match someone’s desire

Yet no matter where I roam,
The city is, for me, my home.
Back in town from out of state,...

Read More

The tugboats in the river chug
While motorboats bounce by.
The dogs on leashes sniff the ground
And pigeons peck or fly.

The children with their helmets on
Give training wheels a whirl
While grown-ups check their phones
Or let their newspapers...

Read More

More than fifty ships go through the Suez Canal on any day.
However, a very large freighter has blocked the passageway.
The ship called the "Ever Given" comes from a company in Taiwan.
Unsuccessful efforts to move the...

Read More