Nickers and Ink: boating

Showing posts with label boating. Show all posts

Tuesday

Intruding on an Introvert

Nomads never know when numbers enlarge.

“Ahoy! Who goes there? Reel us in.”

The eager skipper shouts again.

I bite the dust,

Although I must

Hospitably respond. Chagrin!

I shudder, as the boat he guides.

Too early were the changing tides.

Inside I know

I’d rather go

Where downsized company resides.

In bygone times, I loved a crowd.

I welcomed chatter, long and loud.

It seems of late

I hesitate,

I’d rather walk the row unplowed.

The landing party steps ashore.

My island’s teeming with their corps.

Halt my routine;

I’ll bear the scene,

Till they embark a-sea once more.

c2017 by Linda Ann Nickerson

Image:

Adapted by this user from vintage artwork.

This poem was posted in response to these prompts:

April A to Z Blog Challenge

National Poetry Writing Month / NaPoWriMo

ABC Wednesday: “N” is for “nomads,” “never,” and “numbers”

Meme Express: “downsized”

Six-Word Saturday: See subtitle.

#atozchallenge

#napowrimo

#SoCS

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Sunday

Losing sleeple for the people

Sold too cheap, we’re losing sleep.

Making waves in the caves

A rising heat wave draws us down,

Accepting pathways underground.

The tiller, held by shady soul,

As shadows lengthen, guides to Sheol.

The hidden pilot looks to laugh,

For we have lost the narrow path.

Our leaky craft is sinking slow;

Still, we delight in undertow.

We sit and sigh, enjoy the ride.

Each freely mocks the other side.

We call it “liberty” hard-fought;

Authentic freedom we’ve forgot.

“It’s for the people,” we exclaim,

Although we have ourselves to blame.

Each face is red, betraying heart.

We’ve raised deceit to highest art.

So, chasing thrills, we’ve ceded sight.

The answer lives within the light.

c2016 by Linda Ann Nickerson

This poem was posted in response to these prompts:

Five-Minute Friday: “hidden”
Meme Express: “heat wave”
Shadow Shot Sunday: “lengthening shadows”

Simply Snickers: “for the people”

Six Word Saturday/Show My Face: “Describe your life in six words.”
Stream of Consciousness Saturday: “art”
Theme Thursday: “red”

Image/s:

Thanks for Sepia Saturday for the vintage/public domain image.

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Saturday

British novelist Philip Larkin (1922-1985) left his mark on literature in multiple ways. His most famous books were A Girl in Winter and Jill. He also served as editor of The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse, a staple for college and university English classes, and received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 1965.

Here’s a classic Larkin poem.

[Mature language warning]

Next, Please

By Philip Larkin

Always too eager for the future, we
Pick up bad habits of expectancy.
Something is always approaching; every day
Till then we say,

Watching from a bluff the tiny, clear
Sparkling armada of promises draw near.
How slow they are! And how much time they waste,
Refusing to make haste!

Yet still they leave us holding wretched stalks
Of disappointment, for, though nothing balks
Each big approach, leaning with brasswork prinked,
Each rope distinct,

Flagged, and the figurehead with golden tits
Arching our way, it never anchors; it's
No sooner present than it turns to past.
Right to the last.

We think each one will heave to and unload
All good into our lives, all we are owed
For waiting so devoutly and so long.
But we are wrong:

Only one ship is seeking us, a black-
Sailed unfamiliar, towing at her back
A huge and birdless silence. In her wake
No waters breed or break.

Last year’s A to Z post: Naming the Nemesis

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