–after Peter Bain’s “Schooner in Harbor”
She only wants to see what others see:
The shore-men’s work arrested by the clock;
A scrim of light reflecting off the sea;
The gadgetry of ships in harbor dock.
The shore-men’s work arrested by the clock
Amplifies the silence underneath.
The gadgetry of ships in harbor dock
And pilings set like measures in repeat
Amplify this silence underneath
That she can’t help but know, its heart concealed
In pilings struck like measures in repeat.
To her the blank of all has been revealed.
What she can’t help but know–its heart concealed
In bollards, cranes, and winches waiting, mute—
Is all the blank of all has been revealed
And portioned up, a bitter substitute.
The bollards, cranes, drum winches waiting mute
Parse nothing in the sky—no birds, no clouds
Are portioned up; a bitter substitute
For bones of masts and booms. The bearing shrouds
Brave nothing in the sky—no birds, no clouds—
Their tensile ratlines tallying the loss
In bones of masts and booms. The bearing shrouds
Accentuate the yardarm’s naked cross
Their tensile ratlines tallying the loss
That cannot be redeemed. Impending time
Will weather down the yardarm’s naked cross
Emboldening an endless pantomime
She wrestles to redeem. Advancing time,
Encouraged by the clang of cable chains,
Facilitates the endless pantomime;
Asserts that what is here negates the pain
Heralded in those clanging cable chains
She cannot reconcile. Their strident sound
Postures that what is here negates the pain
Of what is not, or never can been found.
She cannot reconcile their strident sound.
A random rope’s displacement in a breeze,
Discloses what is not, or never found,
Transfiguring the daylight by degrees.
A single rope’s displacement in a breeze
or scrim of light reflecting off the sea
transfigures all the daylight by degrees—
She only wants to see what others see.