11/5/24

Two Days and a Night on the Boat (poem)

 

Free boat scraping
barnacles of salt water in Marina Del Ray
the bargain boat bought brought a security guard
living on the empty vessel


Hoisting themselves up a mast near the slip
skill with a bosun’s chair gave a vision
of Johnny Carson’s get-away-yacht
the 26 foot sailboat didn’t have


Leaving the slip with a paddle making way
down a grid row, through a channel
sailing without a motor past breakwaters
toward Catalina and even Alaska


Night fell near the islands
still wind and wonder without maps
of glow from yonder window on the horizon
that seemed to grow larger moving uncertainly


A shipping lane, a careful watchman looking at a scope
in the dark of night a large towboat and barges vector past
what could have been a crushing, splintered feeling
of loss


Wind rose in the morning, waves slapping the hull
the boat taking on water, a screwdriver through
near the keel brought the question
to return or continue


Opening the Bible at random it said
give away what you have and follow me
-to L.A. from the island donating the boat
to an organ donor place and bike across the Mohave.

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Two Days and a Night on the Boat (poem)

  Free boat scraping barnacles of salt water in Marina Del Ray the bargain boat bought brought a security guard living on the empty vessel H...