Short Starboard Poems

a school
of dolphins-
on the starboard
a synchronised swimming
display...

Read More

Full moon rises clean
deep baptismal Atlantic
starboard full steam ahead....

Read More

listing to starboard
an elm beseeches the sun
a leafy mime


John G. Lawless
©8/24/2018...

Read More

grab firm that rudder
stand at the helm of your ship
stop drifting through life



AP: 2nd place 2022, Honorable Mention 2021

Posted on April 4, 2018...

Read More

Ship
Sonar
Sea captain
Sailors aboard
Search

Squall
Strike sails 
Starboard side
Swinging the lead
Swell

3/10/19

Light Up The Page 2 Contest

Sponsor: Joseph May...

Read More

starboard saints
rowing ridges over
trembling tides, we're 
brewing boulders topped with
wintery whitecaps
sinking slowly, we whisper
defeated dirges to the
abyssal plains

----------...

Read More

Joanna Davis

Once a silly sailor,
sat upon a ship
Drank a barrel of rum;
thought he’d take a dip
Looked left and right.
then over starboard side
Saw a hump back whale
so he asked him for a ride
'No!' Said the whale,
I’ve far too much to do
to spend time wasting 
with a sailor as silly as you!...

Read More

a school
of dolphins-
on the starboard
a synchronised swimming
display


NOTE:A cinqku is an 'English language 'version of a tanka with 17 syllables 2;3;4;6;2
no title and last two(or three) lines being a surprise/comment on the first three
lines &was created by American poet Denis Garrison...

Read More

Siren-red hair, it screams from port.
Starboard aflame with twilight’s trance.
Intense Paulette ~ the sea’s consort.
Siren-red hair, it screams from port,
nudging the captain and his court.
Danger at dawn - high risk romance.
Siren-red hair, it screams from port.
Starboard aflame with twilight’s trance.

1/8/2021...

Read More

She is the pearl in my shell
In the heart of my harbor
When I pull into port
She keeps on pulling me starboard
Into her ocean of love
In fact, the only thing scarier
Than a clouded night landing
On the deck of a carrier
Is a moment without her
I want to shout her name
Out and then marry her
I want to drown in
The currents that carry her...

Read More

I once turned me frigate to port
Grounded on Her Majesty's fort
I thought it was petty
They valued their jetty
And threw me in a prison of sort

I learned here that starboard means right
I wish I had known it that night
Born as a dyslexic
Directions eclectic
A natural sea captain's fright

7-31-18
For Carolyn Devonshire's contest Sea Tales -
gift for a lady...

Read More

SAME MAN, SAME FOLK


The day I adorned value:
Damask king of attire
Gold made me new mint
And my finery nonpareil ;
Even kings called me son.


Then dearth dressed me up
In a calico from cockroach’s jaw
And hooves that tilted starboard
It was want’s magic moment:
The visible turned invisible.


So I wondered what had changed
Same man , same folk
Then a thought sprang up in me :
No one avoids a man because
He rode on a horse yesterday....

Read More

She came aboard my sinking ship
a death blow to the bow,
attempts to bail and keep afloat
this mariners tattered sails.

Plot a new course and navigate
in storms and angry seas,
this vessel lists in the swells
life plundered by piracy.

Now this new maidens charge
is to steer starboard side,
for a new sheltered port 
with rising tides.

This once scuttled ship
ill winds cast adrift,
is now tacking leeward
this sailors gift!...

Read More

Sails flick while chattering
To the wind deciding
How to best throw itself 
Into its arms.

Port rocks to starboard 
And back again
While I'm throwing my insides
Over the rail into the sea.

Mainsail catches and off we go
Pushed along by nothing
Except the breath of the sea
My stomach as a sacrifice.

The water decides most things 
And today to swell and fall
Bucking like a horse.

It's just the risk you take
When you let her be herself....

Read More

DOG WATCH



Dog walking askew in front of me 
Musta  read a sailing manual.
Listed to starboard about ten degrees
Against the taut leash on his port quarter.
Rudder seemed jammed  30 degrees to port:
And he tacked into the footpath ahead.

..............................................................


Other poems of mine, similar to  this, are available at
https://www.fictionmagazines.com/magazines/five/
Copyright © Sidney Beck | Year Posted 2016...

Read More

And I try...
and I cry.

What if I said it would be good?
Do you think maybe you could
try?

I know you are not within the realm
of
my life.

I try to be understood.
Always at the helm.

You were my love,
you always stood
by my side,
but you kicked me down
at the stern


stern glances

passing chances.

but still at the bow

I bow unto you

my captain!

starboard!
 I board that star!
and sail away..................

and now...

shipwrecked...

Read More

Turn off the city lights 
Rake the wind and 
rake her leaves 
rethink the cost 
till its toil
a boat ride in the seas
smashing rocks
to the tide 
a moons roll
the starboard side 
of a porcelain soul
everyone is asleep 
on the riverside 
the tide flaps the shore 
waiting in the grains my bare feet 
sucked down in the sand 
with each gaping moment 
a splash in my hand 
her breast form a shadow 
i watch her dance
my reflection in the mirror 
a warriors stance...

Read More