Hello PoetryVoting

Vote

Voting-Boards

Home

HomeFollowingInboxNotifications

Read

ReadLiftedFeedsHeartedHistoryMy poemsNew poem

Explore

ExploreOrbitsWordsTagsClassics
Log in
0
Stars
0
Embers
0
Alerts
0
Inbox

Vote

Voting-Boards

Home

HomeFollowingInboxNotifications

Read

ReadLiftedFeedsHeartedHistoryMy poemsNew poem

Explore

ExploreOrbitsWordsTagsClassics
Log in
0
Stars
0
Embers
0
Alerts
0
Inbox

captain of a street ferry! "thy tiller has found a storied port"

~

*words given life's first breath by this comment from

SE Reimer  

"thy tiller has found a storied port"*

~~

 

captain of a city street ferry,

upon the choppy holy waters of

scarlet fevered spotted gum stained

christened concrete streets

 

daylight guided by the starlight

of quartz sparklers sidewalk embedded,

resurrecting, overwhelming,

the grayness of men's mortared materialism,

these textured bright city lights,

from murk morn steam-pipe risen,

signposts of a city boys life,

navigation tools on his

steerage cruises

 

'tis only my poor torso

I captain,

my bus driving days retired,

single masted, obedient to the sun's paths plotted

on a personalized AAA TripTik,^

my cargo, my tiring physique,

the refined mettle product of a

sixty five year too short voyage of

deep diving mining defining,

and for surety, water divining

 

city walking life driving,

debtor-in-possession of a

city infection

of perpetual motion sickness

 

enabled inability

for standing stilled,

lane weaving,

people receiving and perceiving

as buoyed obstacle objects

to be passed by

in a higher lane

of shaken and stirred

city waterways

 

muscle's squeak in sonnet speak

 

Why speed thy errant boots

upon lanes of wandering men,

is there not time enough,

words suffice,

in history's future present

unlived long life,

to recompense

all your recorded stanzas,

mariner's tales and wrote recitations of seafaring voices?

 

sea nat run.

sea nat go.

 

dodging tween his fellow citified citizens

and the puzzled and puzzling drowning tourists,

sea nat write his unsecreted visions,

sailing from street to shining street poetry

 

this glorious grime,

this delicious dirt,

stuff of my blood,

genes of my children's children inheritance,

of thee I sing,

in thee I revel,

of thee I am composed

 

when my decomposing time scheduled arrival

lately comes on time,

bury me in its cemetery of memories,

within the soft earth of a watery grave

that the jackhammers drill bit paddles can uncover,

in rough canvas toss my worn smooth

failed frame overboard,

so I may become but one more

fable

in your fabulous liquefying

cement oceans

 

~~~

 

3:53 am

5/18/16

nyc

 

^

http://pearlsoftravelwisdom.boardingarea.com/2014/01/remember-triptix/

Request permission to use this poem
Written by
nat-lipstadt
99 / M / NYC/Lippstadt/Kraków
Published
Apr 18, 2016
Lines·Words
81·342
Notes

with apologies to all the great poets from  I liberally borrowed

Tags
#tiller#streetferry#reimer
Permission

Request to use this poem

Tell nat-lipstadt how you would like to use it. We review requests before forwarding them.

AboutBlogFAQPrivacyTermsContact
© 2009-2026 Hello Poetry/v27.0 by @eliotyork
Explore
Hello PoetryVoting
Write