Racial tension and Floyd
A picture of a committee in defense of human right a picture where serious white man and a woman in a business suit and to black persons This was serious business no one smile except the two black persons that spoiled the gravity of the solemn undertaking
Most black people I have met were like me from a working stiff background I was employed on ships they were mostly onloading cargo from the said, ships, they appeared more open, talkative then us Scandinavians, we don’t say much unless we are drunk in a bar
there was an unspoken racial barrier that made a man whose lowly job was to oil the engine feel racially superior; this was daft as the oiler had more in common with black people than he realized as we both suffered from segregation by those who wore suits working in an office
In America, with her many racial problems, we tended to side with the oppressed black people we had not noticed politics had entered into the fray; let to a man called Floyd, was killed by a cop who had trained for riot control in Israel Floyd, an addict, was not a person to look up to
Categories:
oiler, anger, angst, anxiety,
Form: ABC
I’m a servant of the universe
My rank is junior minder.
I care for the solar system
As its oiler and winder.
Everything is done
To a very strict rota,
Checking every cog
And cleaning every motor.
The star has its thermostat
Rigidly checked and set
Its fuel delivery schedule
Very rigorously met.
Each planet has its key
Kept on its own ring
So I can check and fix
Each internal spring:
Wind it too tight,
The planet runs fast.
Not tight enough
The wind won’t last.
I once got it wrong
In my apprentice stage,
Wiped out the dinosaurs
And caused an ice age.
You can imagine all the ribbing
At the staff centennial dinner
Apprentice of the moment?
Never was the winner.
I have my own staff now
The systems work just fine.
Guess it should last right
‘Til the end of time.
Categories:
oiler, career, fantasy, imagination,
Form: Rhyme
Robots at sea
the sun shines, it always shines, on the portholes
on the ships in the bay looking enticing.
To be a mariner is not a natural form of life and
should be run by robots can tie a ship to a port.
As it is an engineer can sit in a control room
and press the relevant buttons no need for an oiler
to walk around seeing if something has to be done
and cleaning the floor.
On long journeys by the young especially is not
healthy, too much time spent reading ***********
and getting a wrong view of what sex is.
Visiting prostitutes thinking women are like this.
Come to think of it robots could be used as soldiers
and the interest in armies would lessen.
Categories:
oiler, absence, africa, allusion,
Form: Blank verse
Damn the torpedoes
Damn the torpedoes the Yanks did say,
When duds hit a Jap ship and fell away,
Firing pins weren’t working well,
One sub loosed 13 didn’t break the spell,
Just sometimes one was right.
Bloody thing would ignite,
And the Yanks would bloody yell.
Nineteen fourty four, pins good now for sure,
Sam Dealy and submarine Harder,
Transporting Aussies to Borneo, for,
To upset the Japanese pardeners,
Muiat Suki, Jap Destroyer,
charged the submarine,
Head on was sitting Harder,
1100 yards Dealy fired 3 torpedoes, i mean,
Chopped the fork out of his enchilada,
Next day at 650 yards,
Destroyer Hayanani came,
3 torpedoes hit this Destroyer,
Too many holes it was a shame,
Blew the fork out of his nighty,
Just the same,
The Reaper danced, begorrah,
Z Force men went ashore again ,
Into the wilds of Borneo, and then,
Ole Harder went a hunting men,
Of the Japanese type of fauna.
Don Johnson
Submarine Tinosa (ss283 ) July 24th 1943, attacks Japanese oiler No 3 Tonam Maru west of Truk, Tinosa fires 15 torpedoes 13 hit but only 2 explode. Tonam Maru is towed to Truk by light cruiser Izuzu and used as a floating oil storage tank.
Categories:
oiler, adventure,
Form: Ballad