The Joke & Dragons

As I said in my last post, here are a few samples of poetry I have written. I’m still working out some kinks with them, but I figured I’d share the process with you, with my rough drafts.

The Joke

So the joke starts

Sailors
Grasping metal rails
Their legs helpless
To the force of the waves
On the side of the vessel

Salt coming in
Oceanic waves
Speckling hair
With white
Instant aging

And we fight back
Laughing
And taunting
And vaguely referencing
the Titanic

But we are lucky sailors
Realizing we don’t need to be serious
The ocean can be serious enough
For all of us
So we laugh

So near death
And as I write
With frostbitten hands
I laugh
At the punch line

July 2014
Pacific Ocean

Dragons

Enchanted
By the synchronized
Flapping of uncountable wings

A man is spun
By the power
Relinquished by creatures

That try so desperately
To be just like
They aren’t

With songs like cats
Meowing danger
In the face of a true

Toodler
And backs
Made by nature to

Be ridden
Like a horse
Or even the birds

Named after the lonely housewife
Desperate to make love
Like we make love

Although they seem
To hardly enjoy it
As we do

The ego of man
Face to face
With the desperation

Of the birds
And still
Those seemingly lost

In their existence
Overpower all thought
With the glorious display

Of unified flight
Leaving man
Alone

In the mud

July 19, 2014
Tiritiri Matangi