Poem 340

Another underwater poem (see Poem 70 and Poem 213 ) … thinking about people lost at sea … title from Shakespeare …

( I like the word impervious and the ten minute trip to splinters … )

Full Fathom

The sea absorbs a boat
like acid
                  as if the salt
abrasive water dissolves it
rubbed away like wet paper
between the fingers
                                         one minute
there as impervious
as a bottle top
                             the next
changed course ninety degrees
begun the ten minute trip
to splinters

a disappearance
is the worst thing
                                   come
seven years when you are stamped
dead still there will be grains
of doubt
                 a little house under
the sea where you point your
boots to the door and sigh

sailor
            fisherman
                                 drop your head
and listen to the squall that rises
today over Wellington
                                               also
there is a hurricane off the
Florida coast and the water
is warming into spring

a wind comes into the house
a heavy spring tide he folds
and falls before
                                that twists
the waterlogged boots on his
soft feet
                the roof that was a side
creaks
              everything is down here
this is what they mean 
                                              by no trace