One wanted my company but they vetoed,
I had happened to overhear.
My anger never torpedoed,
but nulled to make way for sorrow.
I realized it was not them that were hollow–
But it was I that caused distress,
I could not sojourn there nor here,
and everyone hesitated, failing to confess.
Categories:
torpedoed, 11th grade, anger, anti
Form: Free verse
The sea ghosts
The first time I went to sea as a mess-boy, it was on an old ship.
It took two days to find my seaman's legs and take a look at my surrounding.
The crew didn´t look real like they were shadows caught up in a war
that was not of their choosing.
When ships were torpedoed and the sea was afire.
Drowning seamen slowly sinking in a circle like a macabre dance of death.
There was something of the night about them I could not fathom.
The war lasted for many years when peace came, the seamen had lost all contact with families and friends.
When this voyage was over, they would get paid, find lodging near the harbour drink beer at ease with tarts and thieves until the money ran out.
Then a new job, one voyage at a time.
I wanted to but could not be one of them; life interests me.
The sailors had found something I could not emulate, their peace of mind
was shrouded in the mist a yearning for Saragossa.
Categories:
torpedoed, conflict, corruption,
Form: Blank verse
Popular Mozart melodies are playing on a low loop.
Five people tense as a clinic nurse
calls us in or leaves us hanging.
I know the drill,
she’ll lead me reluctantly to the scales,
the usual sighs of ritual humiliation;
“Are you 6 foot” she inquires
looking at the chart skeptically.
I don’t tell her that for the last 10 years
I have been shrinking while my bull neck
sinks lower, torpedoed by a laptop navy.
In the Doctors examination room
I slump worry and hum.
I know I will be there for a while,
long enough for me to scribble this poem down
in a dollar store notepad.
Back home I will spell-check every other word -
my mind was on a lump in my gullet.
After much examination
the doctor declared that I have a bone in my throat
one unknown to medical science;
at first she thought it might be a chicken bone
but it waggles only when I talk
and spins when I write.
Apparently there are strings attached to it,
something is pulling at that little bone.
When x-rayed it dances a jig
as if to entertain.
I’m still waiting for a second opinion
though I must admit I am enjoying
being the unidentified voice
of my muses little pinky bone.
Categories:
torpedoed, poetry,
Form: Free verse
Popular Mozart melodies are playing on a low loop.
Five people tense as a clinic nurse
calls us in or leaves us hanging.
I know the drill,
she’ll lead me reluctantly to the scales,
the usual sighs of ritual humiliation;
“Are you 6 foot” she inquires
looking at the chart skeptically.
I don’t tell her that for the last 10 years
I have been shrinking while my bull neck
sinks lower, torpedoed by a laptop navy.
In the Doctors examination room
I slump worry and hum.
I know I will be there for a while,
long enough for me to scribble this poem down
in a dollar store notepad.
Back home I will spell-check every other word -
my mind was on a lump in my gullet, but it’s okay,
after much examination
the doctor declared that I have a bone in my throat
unknown to medical science;
at first she thought it might be a chicken bone
but it waggles only when I talk
and spins when I write.
Apparently there are strings attached to it,
something is pulling at that little bone.
When x-rayed it dances a jig
as if to entertain.
I’m still waiting for a second opinion
though I must admit I am enjoying
being the unidentified voice
of my muses little finger.
Categories:
torpedoed, poetry,
Form: Free verse
pip-squeak in the air
rams a fleeing big black crow
— torpedoed and stunned
5/22/2018
Categories:
torpedoed, bird,
Form: Haiku
Inwards
Admiral Nukhimov lies in the usual position, on her side, on the seabed with sixty four bodies still aboard. Hit by a freighter Pyotr Vasev making a disaster. Two divers died while retrieving bodies from the wreck.
Eighteen people standing upright behind a glass screen, led out one at a time by a diver, giving him memories he’ll never forget, awful. We don’t replace the dead with the living, leave them there. A 1986 tragedy.
Sixty year old ship, second time she sunk! Used in Operation Hannibal with the Gustloff, another German liner. Both doomed. One torpedoed, one hit mines. Salvaged by Russia and rebuilt, forty years of service.
Old ship lasted so long, about to be scrapped but took four hundred and twenty three souls with her. Another tragedy at sea, a fine ship gone.
Categories:
torpedoed, conflict, death, history, war,
Form: Verse
(chance operations)
Beethoven’s orchestra torpedoed
Restoring life to the platform
Desire’s found, as the quiet storm raged on
Deliciously clinging to the heartbeats
Of every symphonic note
There was a true rhapsody
As, Beethoven’s first symphony played on
Categories:
torpedoed, art, music, passion, word
Form: Verse
New York
Dark outside all I see is a figure, which is bald and wears glasses.
I remember a time when there was a war and we had to use black
curtains so the enemy flying over the town could not see it, even
though it was on their map. And sometimes they dropped bombs
anyway just for the hell of it. My uncle a merchant seaman, told me
of the fantastic sight coming from a war torn Europe and seeing
New York lit up like a colossal Christmas tree, like seeing paradise.
New Yorkers treated foreign seamen with great respect and
much beer was drunk… my uncle survived after being torpedoed
three times. When he after five years came home to Norway,
he was told who lucky he was having avoided the hunger of war.
It is dark outside but not as dark as my uncle´s mind when he,
after the war tried to return to his New York, they wouldn´t let
him go because he behaved so strangely… five years of war and
know one understood he suffered post traumatic stress. And no
recognition came his way…alone by the shore of lost sanity he
dreamed of his beloved New York.
Categories:
torpedoed, dedication, war, dark, dark,
Form: Blank verse
This is the fleet commander. I address all of you.
To this mighty ship, you have been a faithful crew.
Your performance the other day was much better than good.
We sank the strongest British ship, the HMS Hood.
May I assure you there will be no cause for alarm.
The Luftwaffe will arrive soon to deliver us from harm.
If any of the British fleet dares to show their face,
they will be torpedoed by U-boats in their place.
I remind you this is the most powerful ship on the sea.
Der Fuehrer has sent a wire directly to me.
We will forever hold a place of honor in Germany.
This is the most formidable nautical bulwark.
We are sailing on the greatest ship, The Bismarck.
Based on the 1960 film “Sink the Bismarck”
Categories:
torpedoed, adventure, history, war,
Form: Rhyme
FALL IN THE SNOW
Navigating deserted street , timorously,
Seems ok underfoot, so branch out a little.
No ice, just hard-packed snow.
Sidewalk looks white, innocent, safe.
Left foot treachery, collapse to port side
Like a tree felled at random
Or a ship torpedoed.
Lie still, winded and unsure of breakages
Try to catch breath.
Test leg, - ok. Lone passer-by offers hand
Pulls me to the surface.
Rooted again, step gingerly out once more.
Categories:
torpedoed, recovery from...
Form: Free verse