The Sinking Ship of Negativity
It's disappearing like buffalo across the vast plains...
familiarity has become distorted, both sour and rank.
There's an abandoning of the ship of negativity,
bringing grief far worse than nine months of labor.
It's given cause for an elegy, so who is to thank
for the decline of what was a tranquil sanctuary?
In backwaters, gossipers have rippled the waters.
They're
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Categories:
ship, community, conflict,
Form: Elegy
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
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Categories:
friendship,
Form: Free verse
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
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Categories:
ship, anxiety, introspection, loneliness, lost,
Form: Rhyme
The sinking ship
I think I've found myself on the wrong side of love.
It's still love so it hurts to see it.
When I'm not with him,
I want to be.
When I am with him,
I want to run away.
I know I should have enough courage to just stay away,
And I know I shouldn't think I'll never have love
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Categories:
ship, abuse, addiction, anger, break
Form: Free verse
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
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Categories:
ship, boat, fish, fishing, sea,
Form: Free verse
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
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Categories:
ship, age,
Form: Rhyme
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
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Categories:
ship, boat, fun, how i
Form: Rhyme
Horatio Nelson
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
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Categories:
ship, boat, character, fun, journey,
Form: Rhyme
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
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Categories:
ship, animal, boat, fun, humorous,
Form: Rhyme
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
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Categories:
corruption, dad, family, relationship,
Form: Free verse
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
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Categories:
ship, dream, time,
Form: Free verse
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
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Categories:
ship, encouraging, extended metaphor, inspirational,
Form: Free verse
Callimachus English Translations II
Callimachus English translations
For Gail White
To the Cup-Bearer
by Callimachus
translation by Michael R. Burch
Decant the wine then toast "To Diokles!" Nor does the beautiful boy Achelous touch his hallowed ladlefuls. So beautiful the boy, Achelous, passing beautiful, and if any disagree, let me alone comprehend real beauty.
Pitiless ship, having borne away my life’s sole light,
I beseech you
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Categories:
ship, beautiful, boy, death, flower,
Form: Free verse
Budget Ship
Mid-day vibration is coming to town and the people are running around getting ready for a big party to celebrate their musical history.
More than a hundred ships are docked at sea
And my beau is waiting for me, which ship he will board
I can’t tell, I will only know when I hear the mid-night
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Categories:
ship, america, community, environment, farewell,
Form: Narrative
Conch Shell
Conch shell sea gem and sea snail
Horn held tone gyrates the tritonis trumpet
Note blown
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Categories:
ship, symbolism,
Form: Rhyme
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