Ship Poems | Examples

kraken bagged his first clipper ship

kraken bagged his first clipper ship on a Monday afternoon.
I love the feel of it in the bag, he told his cousin Swoon.
Swoon thought that keeping a ship in a bag was bad luck.
He asked how the creatures would breathe, but
Kraken did not give a gut

GOSPEL SHIP

From Seas to air
No worries just courage
Destination Heaven to arrive
Set sail
Without fail
Far from the shores
Beyond the seas
Horizon through the skies
Ship of blessings
Chosen to descend
Waves of the skies
Direct angle aligned
Calm thoughts
Welcomed mind
Peaceful spirit
Honor in merit
Reservation granted
Beauty within the wonder
Heaven arrived
Dropped anchor
Welcomed by the Heavenly Angels
You made it in song
Gospel Ship

I'm on the wrong ship

I think I'm starting to realize something.
I'm on the wrong ship,
I guess i didn't think things through
when I came on this trip,
I thought that we had made a bond
love at first sight,
I went to her house, that same day,
was there all night,
When I left I whispered in her ear.
I love you. I felt her body tense
That's why I don't understand this
and why it don't make sense.,
I called her later on that day
She didn't answer her phone,
All that would go through my mind
Was if she was there alone.
That night, I couldn't get much sleep,
Too much was on my mind,
At one point through that lonely night
I caught myself crying,
That morning, I jumped in my car.
And went to her, place,
i knocked and when she opened the door
she slapped me in the face,
How dare you just to show up here
And sending me those texts,
I don't know what you thought about last night.
But to me it was just sex,
Sometimes I just need to release. It's called companionship.
I wanted a relationship I'm sorry
I was on the wrong ship

fri-end-ship

from the I-shaped metal
we set sail to the ocean
with a pirate crew over dozen
as lightning struck and tide crashes
to go over the horizon together
has always been the X mark we trailed
then there's the cannon boring hole
and the mermaid's enchanting call

to a single pebble, tied to a rugged rope
we drift away to the sea
some survived remained ashore
keeping stone to be afloat
being a rock is to keep adore
a new ship, as the old one's sunken
with few and enough crew
despite the artilleries and the abyss pull

S-O-S

Am I on an island launching bottles out to sea
beached at the waterline will someone rescue me
I'm drowning not waving as the boats go by
abandoned at high tide does anyone hear my cry
here am I sad to say writing messages in the sand
marooned a lonely castaway will somebody lend a hand
if I'm on an island will my ship come in
or has it run aground did it go down
with only thoughts of you to keep me alive
when will my ship ever arrive
here on an island sending signals from the shore
stranded high and dry will no one hear my call
found my freedom a big mistake I made
there's not another living soul around
loneliness the price I paid
and my tears are the only sound
if only my time I could rewind
but am I really on a deserted island
or is it only in my mind

Steady the float

Here rest my oars.
A killick thrown to the school of fishes,
To still my boat from the peering waves.
Fishy-wishy scatter as water splatters,
Like wood chips flying when the pickaxe strikes.
A ship draws near, but my killick blocks its kiss—
Its stale mouth might stagger my rest,
And send my gathered fish fleeing the net.

Much of the mud my killick swallows,
So the wave won’t tug the boat an inch.
More students from the school must reach my net.
A long wait beneath the twilight-dimming sky.
Yet the fish market waits for a refill.
The cool breeze begs my eyes to close,
But hunger bites hard with its mocking teeth—
My killick just has to steady the float.

My ship life

My life's ship

My life is like a sailing ship that has sailed
The seven seas 

To move along in my life ship I need a constant breeze 

I have encountered storms that has thrown 
My life ship around 

Nearly ending in disaster  I could have run aground 

My life ship has been sailing for sixty years or more

Never  touching land never to land on shore 

I have had  wonderful journey and  my life ship is  my friend 

I hope that when I reach my safe harbour 
I will moor up and my ship's life journey will end

Who's Boss?

One of the clowns in my circus
wants to be ringmaster and crack the whip
one of the sailors on board my boat
wants to be captain and steer the ship
but there's only room for one
under the big tophat my dear
so they're both out of luck
and the buck stops here
I have the last and final say
tho' not one to overwhelm
to maintain a steady course
there can only be one at the helm

Horatio Nelson 1758-1805

Years ago I did so choose, to go on a Caribbean clipper ship cruise,
and, in addition to several other islands,
anchored off Nevis, northwest of Saint Kitts,
where, in the late 1780's, Nelson had lived,
and still bears traces of his presence today,
in various parts, pieces and bits.
When our windjammer Skipper informed us,
'Shopping here's good, snorkeling is bad,'
I avoided the former, sought out the latter,
and, as a matter of fact, a good time was had,
for no sooner had I ducked under,
two feet from the waterline,
in about one foot deep (shallow) water,
tho' visibility was, in inches, no more than nine,
I espied a white clay churchwarden pipe,
which I retrieved, broken, not whole,
with one third of the stem, and most of the tobacco-burned bowl.
1787, Nelson married the widow Fanny Nisbet on Nevis,
and, as the island he was about to depart,
'Desist smoking or else!'
Horatio may have heard her insist or impart,
and that which I found, I've a mind to say,
was his very last pipe, he'd reluctantly tossed overboard,
on that sunny day, when, as Captain of Boreas, he sailed away.

The Camel

If a camel is the ship of the desert
then speaking equally
a ship is the camel of the sea
altho' a camel can go without water
for up to seven months
a ship without water on which to float
is neither a barque a barge nor boat
as the camel needs food
to get over the humps
it seems like a dromedary
conundrum to me
but if by chance
I'm struck by luck
and the lottery I should win
would that I could buy a ship
if I may I'd like to say,
"That'll be the day
when my camel comes in."

I Fear the ship is sinking

I am not one to keep a sinking ship afloat,
nor am i one to captain a drowning crew.
Sacrificing self for an inevitable end is a thirst never quite quenched.
Surrounded by water, what is the point when it is filled with salt; sorrow and a disposition for the petty?

Do not be the vain captain of a sinking ship.
Narcissism and a need for control will strain relationships,
give birth to dubious loyalty,
the curse of blood is not the royalty you think it is.
blood and debt is not enough to keep the ship afloat.

Patch the holes present.
Build boards that last; not ones diminished and impaired by fear,
but ones repaired with words held dear,
then maybe the ship may reach its destination… once adversary is clear.

Realizing life is short too late

aborted ambitions
time squandered
dreams abandoned
a life mismanaged

a ship with 
no one at the helm
subject to the currents
and the whim of winds

idle and adrift
we've run out of options
out of time and
out of excuses



AP: Honorable Mention 2025

Submitted on June 2, 2025 for contest YOUR CHOICE T sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - Honorable Mention

Before the brow grows cold

lazy bones, bound in poverty’s grip
in a garden, where hesitation weeds grow~
filled with s t r a n g l e d  d e l i c a c i e s…
      a recipe of wisdom, never tasted
   couched like a fly in an endless stupor…
abandoned in a ship, lost in the doldrums~
in a dark tunnel, where
        echoes slowly f a d i n g
     doomed to sail a sinking ship with no lifeboat

yet your arms can still push a boulder uphill~
   so put your shoulder to the wheel...
     never stop, reach the mountain's peak
sharpen the saw, dig for gold, tame white horses~
       while sweat streams down your brow

for once you're interred in a grave
       with nothing to illuminate the darkness 
 mountain of your strength will only enrich the grains of sand...
   and fork in the road will give you no direction to choose 
    you'll just be lost in the maze...
       like a deer in a headlight
 as confused as a dog watching a magic trick

Conch Shell

            Conch shell sea gem and sea snail    
            Horn held tone gyrates the tritonis trumpet 
            Note blown ending battles on a splinted scale                                                
            Epitome depictions make cameo’s regret                                                                 
            Emergent higher seas, onward this ship shall sail
            Tidal wave warnings of an uprising onset

Ship

“If your ship doesn’t come in, swim out to it! “—Jonathan Winters (June 1990)

If my ship doesn’t come in~ I can’t swim that far

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