Skip to main content

Sea Series, Poem 2: The Story of Pirate Glass

Out beyond the cerulean deep
There cast a ship of crystal.
A ghost on waves, it splashed in
the haze of the rising sun.

The surf was strong,
but it flowed like leaves
down a current in June, you might have seen
it in the moonlight, a ship with one room.

The captain aboard holed up in his hoard
Had not so tranquil dreams.
Slipping undertow, as the riptide rolled, he promised the stars
He'd never go, never go back to the shore again.

"Oh fair and trembling shoreline,
Oh frothy salt life of mine,
Although the world is waiting,
I will not tread the sandy line.

He feared the break and the shallow,
He feared what was left behind.
And although he was out of stout,
Dear friends, he would not make the climb.

For fragile was his vessel,
And more delicate his soul.
He said to the gulls, "Look through me.
There's nothing left to see but the sea, you know."

And that's the story of Pirate Glass,
The ghost on the rolling sea,
They say he's still dreaming
Of riptides and singing wearily,

"Oh fair and trembling shoreline,
Oh frothy salt life of mine,
Although the world is waiting,
I will not tread the sandy line."

--

Mad Words List 7.17.18

Cerulean
Undertow
Horizon
Splash
Current
Riptide
Flow
Surf
Froth
Crystal
Tranquil

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Bonus Poem: Look Up!

Looking down, I read the priceless pages, Someone else, sweetly, precisely, Had written their drinkable life on. And I drank in the appreciation Of her words, one sentence at a time, A good, fresh white. Sensational, the clouds were Pouring in, filling my cup,  Easing in, with a soft voice that said, "Look up!" My eyes glanced, only peeking At first, toward the sky. Those rain-bringers harnessing My irises with glee. And as if it had been there All along, the whole long while, A sparrow drifted into the Watercolor before me, soaring. It glided on the currents That were my own world, too. And we shared the view, Him up there, I, eyes lifting further now. And then the wind found itself Playing in the cottonwood's hair. And I smiled, thinking About how good it probably felt, Those wind-fingers, sifting through. 

The Protagonist

She was more of an idea Than a person, yet Her arms reached through The wrinkled pages As I was planning Her defenestration. “Don't,” she said, holding My hand steady. Her typical loquaciousness Gone in a moment - being At the rim does that. Her desperate idea-fingers Grasping, trying to stop The Dusk. I brooded over her Resistance. This story Would be knee-deep In hardship, in never-before-felt Pain. How could I put her In the middle of this Vast dystopian wastebasket And hope she clamors Out? Perhaps I could give her A companion, a slobber-filled Canine or a not-so-kindred Spirit? I could fill her days With synchronicity, with a This-leads-to-that purpose, to fight through The drawl and the drudge, The beginning. In this oneiric world, More nightmarish than The last, she would find Herself at the cusp of Her Self. First demure, red lips Parting only for candy-laced words, And then later, only To respect a humble god or command Her hunger-ridden army To live. Yes, I see the smoke ...

Leashed on the Edge of "I"

Do you ever wish you could view yourself As others see you? At a distance? That you might become one of the crowd Or the speck from the airplane? Or maybe you might become so close That you are nothing but locks of hair And the smell of Cabernet and black tea And a force in the night. I imagine you could even be mistaken For someone else. Could you mistake you For someone else? I think I could do it, Be you, or her, or him, or that dog over there Sniffing the fence, sorting out these Divisions. I didn't say I was I from the Beginning, but I wonder how we drag "I" Around like a stick, and chew a piece off Now and again. You were thrown the stick, And you fetched. But what if you could sniff Beyond the fence and be something more Or something less? Would you? Could we?