SO MUCH

So much steel in these things.

Somewhere there must be a giant hole where all this iron was in the earth.

So much effort.

So much weld

So much work.

From different directions, the ship and the white sea bird continued their journeys from horizon to horizon, a passage that would take a lifetime.

IT'S NOT SIMPLE

It's not simple

nothing is simple

nothing that you've ever known is simple

nothing is

but we can choose the words we use

simple words fuse

to say more.

YOU HAD TO BE THERE....

It is futile to try to convey experience

How much would you need to capture

Sights and sounds

Then feelings, like the pulse of the engine

Smells

The feeling of the air on skin

The awareness of it all around you

Yourself in this world

And not only the world to hand

But those you approach and leave behind

The lack of knowledge of what comes next

What might happen - the assessment and listing of fears,

Hopes & possibilities

But perhaps above all what we bring to it

What has made us what we are

To perceive what we do

To choose what we do

To be where we are

And where we can go from here.

ON THE WIND 1

Writing on the deck is no longer to be taken for granted

The wind is a smart weapon

That finds a way precisely to stop what you want to do.

And it brings the cold.

The first sense and scents of a continent

The red of fishing floats hides and seeks amongst the waves

Sea birds, lazy flap, within range

Of what they need to call home.

FROM THE HEART

all the energies in the ship

to roll, pitch, slam, rise & fall

to rattle, tinkle, knock and crack

to throb and vibrate at whatever frequency

to shake your fillings in your mouth

and tremble cheeks when you sleep

to roll your pencil off the table

to make everlasting noise

and even to move the ship along

from the great engine.

PARKA

A kinder dawn

with the steel of the north in it,

but the look of the south.