A sudden moment of peace,
A
truce. Waves still, wind drops, ship stops, a universal evening.
Everything hidden comes to hand
Greet and accept
Put a face to fears
Then the forces restored
To wage their war
You’ve got to write
something for the camera
descriptions of blueness pall
so you seize upon exceptions
we are the biggest
this bug in the eye of the world.
such a desirable address to write in your end papers
or you hope it will be in hindsight.
A beetle far from home
on the burning deck
does regular walking
south west, reinforced by the ship
confused, not understanding
what it is to be borne away.
Land now would accuse us.
I imagined I saw a long high headland
pointing a way to the east
forbidding the west for fear of shipwreck
And there you could see
packings and checkings
and patting of pockets
duties and things that must be done by
helpless is just an excuse
but a good one.
Find a point to hold
Where am I?
Out in the world
Not negotiating towns and crowds
But hard bound over the sea
It goes on
While the weather and wind wheel round
The relationships are regular
They stay out there, me in here
Without this dynamic
What are the stories here?
Sunbathing stories?
Essays in eating?
Drinks I have failed to find?
Tales of the lower decks?
Social comedies of between decks manners?
It's always the same issue
Reports back from the front line of forgery
Those of us that manufacture them
Are story making machines
Whatever we fail to engage with goes unfabled
Is just born to die in their particular hard truth
That’s why we are needed to soften the blow.
THE LOVE FOR THE SEA OF THE SKY
All history is the result of the wooing of the sea by the sky.
Its attempts to gain its will by friction
All natural disasters and tidal waves
Floods, famines & fires
But the sea flows away
Unbiddable, unpredictable
Twisting and turning
No utterance fixed or specific
Drowning sailors as she goes
History through unseen ways
Surprising all - including the wind.
CAREFUL WHAT YOU DO WITH THOSE BINOCULARS
Careful what you do with those binoculars.
Don't pull the close sea closer
It can come and fetch you
Take you back
Leave only sandals
And what kind of memorial is that?
Burial in a shoe box
Let's see them make an occasion from those raw materials
You have responsibilities in death
To the living
Comfort and ritual
So - careful what you do
with those binoculars.
Out here
no wildlife visible
no birds so far from land
no wonderer on high winds
on the trade wind horizon
no dolphin in the bow wave
in this great following sea
surging us across the ocean
with an occasional nod of the bow
exaggerated here so high
a hundred and fifty feet above the keel
I didn't think we could be so lonely
in our mobile cell of complaints
it's a long drawn-out opening to something
lost time on a superhuman scale
But the sea is a bottomless companion
I can never tire of her
All her ways
Easy and dangerous
Fascinate me.
Ship's time 1200, GMT 1300:
Posn. 33 21.1N 34 08.5W
Course 232
Speed 19.2Kt
Distance 1743, to go 1949
Temp: Air 26C, sea 24C
Wind: NE7
Sea state: 6
1700: By my reckoning, this is about the time we reach the halfway point between Le Havre and Martinique.
1900: Ivan told us that we aren't going to Cartagena. It's straight from Guadeloupe to Turbo.
So I'm going to have to try to get a foot on shore there at least, dangerous or no, because otherwise I have failed in my mission to touch South America.
I wonder what other surprises Mr Del Monte has in store for us.
2000: Up on deck trying to see the stars through the smoke from the engine. I saw Cassiopeia and the Plough, and the Milky Way, though not as clearly as at home.
All day filming and writing on top of the wheelhouse.
2030: We watched Strange Days on video. As soon as it started I realised I had seen it at least twice before and hence knew whodunit. It is a bit of a mess, with several structural problems. You wonder how it was allowed to go ahead like that.
2300: Clocks back again to GMT - 2hrs. Night almost unbearably long. I have all but given up on the radio.
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