Sea Bandits

     The Sea Bandits (1987)
          For my mother -
(October 16, 1920 - July 29, 1987)
   
Your face breaks open to light
kindled by the dead
The room is blue with their flickering eyes

    They leave trails
of water and air
They wind you in their nets
reeling you in,
rolling
over the gray waters with their catch

   They are white
they are ice, they touch your bones
Your spine gives way to the cold
Your hands stiffen

Scales of snow cling to your lips

   You are a tree
dark toward the sun, white
to the north wind

A spar with billowing sail
 shadows the fisherman

The sea-bandits bent
over the dragon's head racing from land

They swear by the wind
Throw off their black robes!
Their furs
stiffen in the cold spray

   Redemption
shimmers under the ice flecked sea
             silver
as a cloud of herring

------

Bitter Oleander, 2006

 

Reviews

[Glen Yumang Manese]

THE IMAGERY OF THE SCENE IN THIS ONE CAPTURES THE MOMENT...I SEE THIS IS A DEDICATION PIECE FOR YOUR MOTHER...THE IMAGES REPRESENT DEATH...AND THE THE WAY YOU CONVEY THEM IN THE LINES...AND A RELEASE...