poetsquib.com

the seven seas

i
i am the sea i am big waves i am loud i pound i crash i smash i roar i am wave after wave after wave i am unending i never stop for anything for anyone i go on and on wave after wave after wave i am unstoppable i am unbeatable i go on and on and on you can’t contain me you can’t put me in a bucket the grand canyon can’t hold me you can’t hold me nobody can you can’t catch me in your net i’m too big too fast too slippery i am the sea i am catastrophe i am the sea i am swell big swell i can sink you i’m bigger than a torpedo and your state of the art naval shock and awe oh i’m so scared america you’re just so big and scary please don’t shoot i can drown you all quickly slowly depends what mood i’m in sometimes i’m feeling generous i’ll throw one back to land but i can drown you if i want to plop gurglegurgle i can drop you to the bottom people are like anchors and i can be figurative too i’m not all brute force i’m poetic genius at times so many talents people are like rocks down down down you go all the way to the bottom better take a jumper it’s cold down there so cold and dark down there that’s right i am the sea i am the big deep the big blue the big everything i am ginormous i am a trillion swimming pools olympic size and then some i can erase your rocks your cliffs i can rub them out i can follow you onto land you think you’re safe there don’t you i can climb trees i can climb mountains ask noah i can gobble all your houses i can rise and expand my empire make me more big my kingdom is bigger than yours i’m a real empire britain was just a sandcastle i am the great sea and you are the little land the little lungs you are the little ships the titanic was just a trinket i like trinkets i like to collect them would you like to see my collection i have a very big collection would you like to see it you collect sea shells do you how nice i collect yachts and ships and famous explorers and deckchairs i collect screams of terror i collect almost anything i’m quite a collector i have quite a collection i should be on the abc

ii
i was a sailor all my life i had a wife on land children growing on land i was away all my life away from my wife away at sea i didn’t see them they all grew i didn’t watch them grow i let them grow on their own i didn’t tend to them i couldn’t be in two places in two elements at once could i nobody could i came back/ they said who are you our mother told us not to talk to strange men with beards/  i brought back the littlest a doll from china a china doll/ she said i’m not a baby anymore/ they said who are you leave us alone they screamed and ran away from me/ i am your father i said but they were screaming so loud they didn’t hear/ my wife said who are you/ i’m your husband remember you threw a streamer as i sailed away i sailed away to sea but see i’m back/ you’re not my husband anymore you didn’t write/ i said but they wouldn’t let us we were top secret it was too top secret to tell you where we were the slightest thing the loosest lips could have given the game away a postcard could have lost us the war i didn’t write for my country/ she said what war and do you think children grow on dirt alone you didn’t send any money/ i spent it all on wine and women that’s what being a sailor is all about but she didn’t understand/ i had to take in lodgers i had to take in men a man took us in then he threw us back out then another took us in then he threw us back out then another and another you don’t know how hard it’s been all those mouths to feed all those men to feed you’re no husband you’re no father you’re no good and good bye/ i was away too long i was all away from them at sea i was at sea too long i was floating all my life i stayed away too long i stayed on deck i was all above board i was all on board all my life now i’m on dry land i drink port i’m all high and dry now i’ve been left at port now pour me another glass.

iii
i am a pretty mermaid well if you don’t believe me i can show you my tail i’ll show you mine if you show me yours see isn’t it pretty i am your dream come true i am so pretty my pretty i make grown men delirious with desire they drown with longing for me they fall into a fever for me they fall overboard for me i go for sailors i like a man in uniform i go for bell bottoms they turn me on send me a sailor boy i’ll show you a good time come play with me come swim with me i’ll show you a good time at the bottom of the sea i’m worth it i’m well worth the price they pay i’m worth it aren’t i you’d sail the seven seas for me wouldn’t you and what about the eighth sea you’d sail that too for me you want a piece of flesh a piece of fish i bet you’ve never done it with a mermaid before wouldn’t that be something to tell the boys in the locker davey jone’s locker that you hooked me that you caught me with your hook line and sinker come play with me see me here on this wet rock watch me brush my hair over my breasts with this mother-of-pearl comb see how it glistens see how i glisten see how wet i am on this rock this rock is not far you can swim here a strong sailor like you i’ll cheer you on i’ll watch your strong strokes come to me come rescue me i’ll take you to depths you’ve never dreamed of.

iv
i am a deep sea monster i don’t like the word monster you wouldn’t like it no i didn’t think so i have feelings you know i was in the papers i didn’t ask for fame just a little consideration i was misconstrued i was defamed i’m not a hideous beast i have one head not two i don’t eat people i eat plankton it’s all lies i’m a private sort i like to be left alone i don’t like people peering into my teacup all the time it’s rude it’s harassment i’m camera shy i’m not photogenic i’m not huge i’m not what the news of the world said i’m not colossal and that’s a big word for them isn’t it i’m not huge just big boned i didn’t ask to be born scary did i all i did was pop up for a breath of fresh air and that was enough to send all the burly fishermen calling for their smelling salts i don’t want to hide like this even when i go out of my way to keep out of the way they track me down deep down i mean who invented the deep sea probe just what the world needs big photos of big ugly me splashed everywhere it’s intrusive it is i’m not some freak of nature i’m not megalithic what a nasty thing to say didn’t their mothers tell them not to point and stare i know i’m no california sunset but you can’t help the way you look i floss my teeth i do what i can with what i’ve got not everything’s aesthetics we can’t all be kate moss can we no we can’t

v
i am a limpet i am little i am strong i am a little limpet hanging on i klingon and on like a star trek sequel i am deeply attached to this rock we’re an item i stick fast my lips are stuck fast i suck this rock on and on through wind and rain and waves in the bare face of adversity i stick through it all i’m strong as glue as gum as car rego stickers i stay and stay i don’t come off i stay for good i’m not some fly by night i don’t slip away in my socks like some scoundrels i’m committed i’ll still be here in the morning i’m not going anywhere push all you like i’m not moving i’m not budging one inch i’m staying put on this rock even king arthur can’t move me i’m hanging on i’m a hanger-onner on my honour i stick around through thick and thin through wind and rain i stick by this rock til death do us part and even then i stick around we stick together we’ll stick it out together we can’t be shaken off that easy we’re strong we’re little we’re loyal we’re limpets.

vi
i am a wreck a nervous wreck my nerves are shattered i’ve hit rock bottom i can’t get up again i’m all in pieces i can’t pull myself together i got struck down all at once i wasn’t always like this i was grand once i was royalty once i was on top of everything the water for a start i was all buoyed up i was magnificent my sails were all puffed out i sailed like a dream i parted waters like curtains like moses on stage i made waves i was big and grand i had a captain i had a crew i had a flotilla of dolphins i had a great career ahead of me rock ahead rock ahead until the crash i’m not the same since i broke under pressure i snapped under stress i hit a hard rock it all got too hard they all relied on me i let them down dragged them down i went down they went down i brought everyone down with me i got sunk i want to dry myself out i do i’m cracking up now I’m given up for lost now just a tragic loss now i’m all at a loss i’m all down very down and out and out of commission now i’m all sunk for good don’t come searching i don’t want you to see me like this i’m not the same ship i once was i plumbed the depths like jung said only i didn’t pop back up like a dolphin torch to find the light i only found a deep dark side to me i’m all out of reach all out of touch I have too much time to think too much time to rot now if only I could be more uplifting.

vii
i am a seagull bet you thought they wouldn’t give me a part a minor player like me i suppose you think i should be the understudy for some big shot big star mister thinks he’s so good pelican mister percival oooh look children look there’s a pelican see the pelican let’s all point at the pelican children pelicans make me puke have you seen the way they eat bet you wouldn’t take them to a restaurant yes that’s right just praise them from a distance but let’s face it you wouldn’t want them sitting at your table would you no just wear your save the pelican badge i’m that seagull yes that one your brat chased you have such horrible children if i had a child like yours i’d leave it on another nest or give it a big nudge yes i took that sandwich right out of his fat hands made him cry did it oh dear oh yes that’s right don’t feed me one of your chips once the message gets around you’ll be surrounded and you can’t enjoy your chips if we’re all starving around your ankles you’d get along just fine in bombay you know you just go showing a soft heart just once and the beggars think you’re a bleeding heart don’t they just step over us that’s the way oh and we’re dirty seagulls aren’t we yes don’t touch our feathers children or you’ll get bird flu swans are fine of course they wash twice a day with imperial leather don’t they it’s just gulls what are filthy well that’s a laugh yes you just put the chips you can’t eat in the bin that’s the way so considerate means i’ll just have to spend all day digging around in your stinking bin never you mind my dicky leg i can manage i have to watch for syringes nothing’s safe anymore oh yes i like the signs you’ve got there don’t feed the birds very charitable i must say well stick up your noses at us all you want we’ve still got wings and i haven’t seen you do much flying lately oh what’s the matter haven’t you got any wings did god forget about you horrible being left out isn’t it you must have done something really bad for god to leave your wings off like that wouldn’t catch us filching from god’s garden we’ve got more self-control more respect you can keep your rubbish tips your scrap tips your chip butty cigarette butties buddy go on stuff yourselves on greasy fatty fishy chippy butty butties i fly you fry so long landlubber.

© meredi o