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M Padin Oct 2013
These old doors,
sullen as spinsters.

Wharves, deckhands, the old chopping block:
flights of time misremembered in a
backward gaze.

Toes in water.
Hooks to fish.
The sea salty.

How shall I count the ways...
lost among the waves.

But look, afar, the old man on his boat!
Is he Charon come to point the way to
the seaward lost; or has he come to
sequester memory to some far shore?

(Maybe he's a schmuck with a paddle!)

Seagulls, feathers, the brine:
all groan with this wood.
In this wood was the line
that snatched life from the water
(the fish, the scales—they shine)
and flopped on the deck,
heterocercal.

The evening closes on this vista but
not the charades of time.
Written for this collection of excellent photographs. A departure of style for me, but hey, quatrains aren't going to cut it anymore. You may find the photographs here:

http://julianesharirphotography.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/not-broadway/

Comments are welcome.
SøułSurvivør Sep 2014
This scripture was taken from the chapter
of the Bible where Jesus was dealing with
the greatest hypocrites to ever walk the
earth. This is from Matthew Chapter 23.

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that
which is within the cup and platter,
that the outside of them may be clean also.
Matthew 23:26 KJV


I was an alcoholic.
I drank 'till I was blue.
I liked the feeling of *******,
I was an addict, too.

I was raised an atheist
Disallowed from church
So my spirituality
Was really in the lurch.

I knew there was an answer
that wasn't in the buzz
I just really didn't know
what that answer WAS.

I tried to do TM.
I went overboard, you see.
I even tried the SRF
and Scientology.

I went to many programs
Treatments and AA.
Rehabs by the score
the pain did not go away.

Finally I found one day
a precious little book.
Someone left it on a bike stand
I went to have a look.

It was a LITTLE BIBLE!
Just the book of John
I went to read the scripture
of the page that it was on.

Someone opened it on purpose
to what I read right then,
how Jesus took some deckhands
to be fishers of men.

I had a funny feeling
like someone touched my arms
I broke out in goose flesh
though the day was warm!

I decided to try Jesus.
Church two times a week.
I guess it was just a prelim
for what I was to seek.

I never did find Jesus
in the sanctuary there.
Some had base hypocrisy -
I was in despair!!!

But I did recieve
something of great worth
I learned to read the Bible
the greatest book on earth.

So one day I was writing
a poem... imagine that!
I found what I'd been missing
right there as I sat!

In this poem I spoke about
how an addict came apart
cried out to our Savior
and
ASKED HIM IN HER HEART!

That time there weren't just goose bumps
I knew I wasn't saved!
It was like an elephant
had walked across my grave!

I went outside to smoke.
I was 3 months clean.
But I still smoked cigarettes
If you know what I mean.

A nagging voice buzzed in my ear
you're just a stupid joke.
You still drink your filthy beer
and on top of that you smoke!


Well. I was sure considering that
and other things as well.
I figured if I used again
I could end the hell.

I would go there anyway!
Wasn't that a cinch?
But another voice came to me
it's power made me flinch!

It said, yes, you smoke your cigarettes
and that isn't good,
but the ******* makes you do evil
is that understood?

So break those filthy cigarettes
I'll show you. You'll break free.
Flush them down the toilet
then come talk to me.

Well, I didn't argue.
I did just as He said.
Then I asked Him

in     my
HEART
and
v

prepared myself for bed.

But as I did lie there
I felt like, I don't know,
like things were hanging onto me
and did not want to go!


But I fell deeply asleep.
Because go they did
they were things demonic.
Inside me they had hid.

When I rose the next morning
I felt so rested... GOOD!
I wanted just to sing!
Wake the neighborhood!

I went outside to see
if I had not thrown away
all of the long cigarette butts
for a puff or two that day.

I found out something else.
It was really wierd!
All cravings for those cigarettes
HAD JUST DISAPPEARED!!!

And there were a lot of things
quite different about me.
I had been delivered.

JESUS SET ME FREE!!!


SoulSurvivor
Catherine Jarvis
(C) September 18, 2014
I was delivered from all my
addictions that night.

But, more importantly,
Jesus Christ was in my heart.
And I have never been the same.

I cried for fifteen minuets
after I realized what had happened.

TEARS OF PURE JOY!!!
Rob Rutledge May 2018
We float on unkown oceans
In boats more made for land.
The sails have ceased to function,
And our boots are laced with sand.
The rudder is unresponsive,
The first mate seems quiet too.
The ship has started leaking,
Weakend wood and stale stew.

The course was never charted,
This was known among the crew.
A passage for the faint of heart,
The bard and the jester too.
These denizens of darkness
Embark with the morning dew.
Depart with mist horizons
To find the start of something new.

For months we sailed
Through winter times,
On waters cold yet still serene.
The memories of warmer climes
Seem like nothing but a dream.
Cannons fire, deckhands scream,
Ship splintered by the sea.
Driftwood caught in ocean's sway
Swept up then cast away.
GaryFairy Oct 2021
The Skipper -

welcome aboard The Lady Mother Earth

if this ship sinks, it will probably take a while

DO NOT PANIC
MUTINY WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!

some may still have to walk the plank
after sinking

lifejackets are available on the starboard and port sides

when looking toward the bow
the left-hand side is the port side
the right-hand side is the starboard side

sometimes you may have to switch sides to keep her from rolling
we do not want this lady to roll!

first, it will tilt to one end or the other

the bow is the front end of the ship
the stern is the rear end of the ship

the stern will probably go down first

you all will probably run to the bow, in that case
sometimes this can cause a teeter totter effect
sometimes that effect may keep us afloat for a while
sometimes not

although this ship was built
by the finest ship builders ever
the stern has less mass, but more density

we will have no time for physics lessons, if it starts sinking
deckhands, cooks, and even gilligan, must work together

WOMEN AND CHILDREN FIRST

I will surely go down with the ship, if she goes down...

for now, let's just try to sail on, and not think about it
let's think of charting the best course
Don't look too deeply, i'm not on the left or right...i am in the middle...keel and hull...and i'm no sailor
Chelsea Jul 2014
There is nothing
like the buzzing
of your own heart
in your own ears.
Nothing greater
nothing worse
only dissonant
rhythmic changes
as you rise
and fall.

The pound
pound
pound
of pulse
breaking through
innocent
blue veins,
coaxing a response
out of limp,
lifeless wrists.

You scratch,
nothing but swift,
apathetic strokes
while knives
slice pomegranates
too full
too excited
to resist
spilling everything.

One inch
is one state
two miles
of thousands
on the map
but the key
camouflages
the most convenient
escape routes.

If you want to
touch
and feel,
find refuge,
be alive:
fight with the ***** deckhands,
throw your hands up,
let it be.
Victor Tripp Sep 2015
I can still smell blood on the deck, of the slave ship
As the ship moves under my feet, watch as the deckhands wash the deck
With vinegar,which makes everyone gasp for air
I am but one of  two , slave children aboard.
Before we set sail,men are separated  from children and women
They make us take our clothes off, and while standing there naked
Our mouths are opened , as we jump up and down, arms pinched,
Before the hot iron of branding , cooks our flesh
But this happens ,only to the chosen ones
Initials of our master,burned on our hips
The first thing  I lost was freedom. the second, was equality.
Each day,of  our existence, we are taught, to fear them
Caucasians of the colonies,born into humanity,and raised to be
Inheritors of society,not beasts of  it, like us
I've learned,that one man's delusion,is another man's strong faith
Male slaves are shackled, and take off between decks
their loud cries,can be heard by us clearly,fro the hold below
The women,are placed in another part,of the ship
Some had only sixteen inches of space to lie on
Which is the reason, the rolling waves of the sea I want to welcome
Me in sweet wet embrace
1044.  BC
King.  David.  Writes. On the. Run from Saul
". Keep me. Safe. O. Lord in you I  take. My. Refuge."
The. Year. 1338.  
A.  Pestulance. Lies. Untouched.  for. Hundreds. Of. Years. Suddenly. Awakens. .
  China.  The once. Great.  Mongolian.  Empyre   Finds. a. Gateway to the. West,
Only to become. Ravished by. Sickness.  ,.
Cappas. Catapult  corpses. ,
Cappa. S.  Merchants. Flee. On. Death. Boats. Set. For. England ,
Prosperous. England's.  Green fields.  ,  
A. Monks. Prayer  
". Dear. Lord. Keep. This. Sickness. Away from these. Green  fields. "
Yet.  Flanders.  Ships. Sailed. ,
Port. To. Port. The. Merchants.  Sailed .
Fear. Stalked. the. Deckhands. ,
Stay away "  
Stay. Away ". Cry. After. Cry. , untill
The. Ghost ships. Deadly. Cargo.  Of.  Fleas. , and. Rats.  Sailed. Into. The.  evenings. Sun.
Airborne !,!!!  
Boils
Fever,
The. Spewing ,
Dead. In. Six. Days.
They. Danced. The. Macarbra. ,  ..
Mothers.  Abandoned their children. ,
Fields.  Lay. Empty. Of. Harvest ,
Death. Stalked. England's. Green. Fields. Like. a. Table. Cloth set. For. Tea .
  
God. Is.  Love. ,
God. Does. Not. Condem.
Those. He. Loves.  To. Damnation. For their sin.
All. Will. Be. Well.  do not. Fear.
For. All. Will. Be. Well. ""
Julian of. Norwich. Had. Seen a. Great. Vision
Burn.
Her. Manuscript. Must. Go. To. The. Flame"
The. Reformers.  Came. .
With. Pitchfork and. Intent.
Yet. They. Found. Nothing.  
Nothing but. An impenetrable   Fortresses of. Love.
Ashford. In. Middlesex.    Twenty. Sixteen.  
Dudley. Road. Sunday. Morning  ,
God. Forgives our sin.
and. Heals. Our. Deseses. ""
Yenson Jun 2022
O 'captain, my captain
at the helm you steer sublime
in squall you hold steadfast unflinching
through the tsunami you rook your slants to roll
and in the flippancies of ragged sails and howling storms
you find the lull that soothes the vicious whispers of the tempests

O 'captain, my captain
with steady hands emboldened
you glide cantankerous waves with ease
telling Poseidon Neptune you chart this map
for in the longitude of courage the latitude of reason holds
and the laps if the gods do sway to the sanity of mist less horizon

O 'captain, my captain
below the dank and heaving decks
deckhands and maddened old salts hallucinates
in mutinous madness they gabble shanties of revolution
below deck minds see wrecks bones and journeys of no return
some mutter cap'n sleeps with the figurehead mermaid at the bow

O 'captain, my captain
unbowed you sail at bow unsurpassed
in the rip roaring rough waters you excel
in the calmness of a fair wind you exemplify bravery
a captain of all seasons from the equator to heating the Attic
where snow look like humans but crumble an melt in the sunlight

— The End —