The U-boat captain walked into a shop
He bought a submariner’s periskop
One day he ran aground
Watching birds fly around
“Gott im Himmel, das is ein teleskop!”
Categories:
u boat, humorous,
Form: Limerick
senses
it is about now knowing what you know except in certain circumstances
when fractures appear; when the past and the future merge.
The authorities were looking for a sunken U-boat using underwater drones
they found many things
A brig, sunk in a storm a luminosity of a lone figure looking up and smiling
before turning into unseen dust.
A German U-boat surrendered, waving a white cloth but such was the hatred
the boat was sunk anyway
They found the submarine had a design flaw when diving too steep an angle
the sub could not rectify itself but kept going down.
They heard and didn’t hear the scream of a young realizing he should never know
the sweetest love.
The fifth dimension is the moment when the past and the present merge and
everything is understood clearly but never spoken of
Categories:
u boat, confidence, corruption, devotion,
Form: Blank verse
the commander
Going on board my ship, a balmy night in Gibraltar
I noticed four old warships (hunter class) tied up
together on a deserted pier as waiting for the final
verdict, to be turned into nails or sunk.
Having drunk beers with an ex. Royal navy people
I boarded one ship, walked up to the bridge
And took command
Giving orders to drop depth charges against
a German U-boat, I heard a voice behind me say:
“This is state property you have to leave.”
He took his helmet off and whipped his shiny doom,
a sociable copper, not looking for upgrades by
arresting people.
Leisurely we walked to my merchant ship
in a few hours, I would get up, cook breakfast
but I had, briefly, been a commander.
Categories:
u boat, angst, best friend, history,
Form: Sonnet
Fishing with Dynamite
Boom! goes the dynamite as we fish for fish
No line, net or hook needed
Just a few sticks of dynamite and a Zippo
Light the stick and toss it in
Wait a few seconds and Boom!
There’s a dozen fish ready for the pot
Try not to use fast burn sticks
You’ll end up in heaven or hell
And make sure you throw it far
You don’t want splash backs
Or to sink your boat if afloat
I’ve caught sticklebacks and great whales
And a U-boat and dozen other types besides
Ate my fill in twenty nations
While dynamite fishing
It’s no good for the reefs
But we pay off the officials
No permits needed
You know how it is cash talks
So I’m allowed to fish where I want
And am off to France soon
Followed by Spain and Italy
To do some illegal Boom! fishing...
from Side of the Hill – Varied Poems... Nick Armbrister
Categories:
u boat, adventure, fishing, satire,
Form: Free verse
The Seeker
“Go silent go Deep” a title of a film he saw of Curd Jürgen
an actor who got manly roles and looked good in Nazi uniform,
but somehow was a hero who did the right things.
Alone in the house, he tries to go silent and deep into his mind
pieces of shrapnel of a bombed out U-boat, dead sailors
floating about until a creature takes pity and eats them.
It is semi-dark down here, the bottom is filled by un-digested
words and deleted poems, but he is trying to find his true self
a rare fish not seen by anyone since childhood.
He swims in the shallow picks up small crabs easier to write
about, with tiny claws, they try to bite his fingers, puts them
down and see them seeking shelter.
He sighs, at eighty he still don`t know who he is, other than
he is not embittered, has a sense of irony and often laughs
at himself on his journey to infinity.
Categories:
u boat, absence, age, angst, betrayal,
Form: Blank verse
On a sunny day, you can see forever
The U-boat that cast anchor on the silky shore of Albufeira,
the crew was dressed in German world war two uniforms,
and bathers thought they were actors in a movie.
The captain came ashore he wanted to call Lisbon to his
embassy, only the number didn`t exist anymore, he had
wanted to surrender, his crew were hungry and tired.
A kind barman gave the captain a cold beer, he drank it
greedily and asked what year it was. 2017, my god,
he exclaimed we have landed in a wrong century.
He walked back to his U-boat a neat man and a hero,
the submarine, rusty, like it had been at the bottom of
the sea for ages, hoisted anchor, and sailed into yonder
Categories:
u boat, absence, angst, anxiety, appreciation,
Form: Blank verse
Confused loyalty
1940 German occupation
British planes
On the night sky
To find the U. boat base
They didn`t
But dropped their bombs anyway
Puny bombs
Burning buildings
Dead civilians
I was sent to a farm
Near a German base
Soldiers became my friends
As the war ended
I was home again
In time to see
Women dragged out
Of their houses
Had their heads sheared
Confusion for a boy
The soldiers were my friends
But enemy of
The Country
Categories:
u boat, autumn, eve, fantasy, father
Form: Chastushka
Hunter Becomes the Hunted
World War 2 is still relevant in 2014. Widow of a Kriegsmarine Captain's U-boat still misses her husband. How she wishes he'd had a shore posting and not gone to sea. When he died in his steel coffin, he left a wife and a child. His last resting place is now known off the Cornish coast with two other subs.
All crew killed, sunk by a deep British minefield, 70 foot down. The subs were after coastal convoys, open ocean hunting was too dangerous. As it turned out so was near the shore.
Today in the clear blue water lie three shattered U-boats: U-325, U-400 and U-1021.
Two are hundreds of miles where they should be. For decades family members knew the wrong location. Now the mystery is solved. All sunk by Type 17 mines. The widow's flowers float on the sea where her husband died. His remains and his crew lie dozens of metres down. The sub crews varied from inexperienced to war vets. At rest together.
The uncle of one submariner still grieves and says we never learn from past events, do we?
Categories:
u boat, conflict, death, history, military,
Form: Verse
Film Set?
There were many bathers on the beach when a rusty
U-boat surfaced, a hatch opened a man came on deck
he was the captain and wore a German uniform,
a long white beard, sunken eyes yes, he looked weary.
The boat inched into the sand her captain jumped ashore.
He walked to the cafe to borrow the phone, had to ring
the embassy but, the number written down on a piece
of paper, was obsolete He sighed, drank a beer said
it was first time in sixty years since he had drunk a beer,
walked back to his boat. Full aft, the U-boat wriggled lose
of the sand bank, found the sea and vanished.
Categories:
u boat, courage, war,
Form: Blank verse
The Long Delay
On glittering morning sea I saw a u-boat surface
covered in barnacles and seaweed.
On its bridge the captain looking onto shore with
his binocular, scanning the land for enemy activity.
He saw me and I waved, this he took as sign to
attack and fired off a torpedo.
On aqua marine a white stripe, and the torpedo
ploughed into a sandbank but didn´t explode.
The captain shrugged climbed down into his boat
closed the hatch and gave order to dive.
The skipper and his crew, had waited sixty years
for a vital radio signal: Go back to base.
Categories:
u boat, mystery,
Form: Blank verse
She stands on the shore
Dressed in black
Her head bowed
As the waters ebb back
For just offshore
She sees the bows of a ship
Where many have perished
On it's maiden trip
Built on the Clyde
To serve in the war
Never reaching the action
As the torpedo's tore
Off the Isle of Arran
She met her fate
The U-Boat attacked
Back through the nets she escaped
With it's cargo of munitions
In explosive boom
Her crew of new
Now in deathly tomb
For the lady in black
Who stands on the shore
Crying into the waves
With a husband no more
http://www.thehighlanderspoems.com/loss-2.php
Categories:
u boat, husband, life, loss, sea,
Form: Rhyme
This escort ship
Of World War Two
Convoy carer
To guide them through
From sail to steam
To propeller screw
Atlantic saviour
For me and you
These modern Corvette's
With their fire power
Delicately named
After a flower
While the Canadian class
Named after cities and towns
But when it came to protect
They buckled down
From the west to Murmansk
Carrying supplies and arms
To the USSR
Bringing war her charms
Of these U-Boat wolves
Running with their packs
Many a life saved
When these Corvette's attack
Depth charge fires
Sinks, boom - look for oil
For many a wolf
Met this toil
These more modern ships
Stealth in design
For flying at the back
Their proud ensign
For the many Navy and Merchant seamen who braved these
Atlantic crossing during World War Two, for me and you.
http://www.thehighlanderspoems.com/war3.php
Categories:
u boat, history, life, loss, sea,
Form: Rhyme