1 files changed, 40 insertions, 0 deletions

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+---
+title: The shipwright
+genre: verse
+
+id: shipwright
+toc: "Shipwright"
+
+project:
+    title: Elegies for alternate selves
+    class: elegies
+    order: 21
+    prev:
+    - title: Serengeti
+      link: serengeti
+    next:
+    - title: Spittle
+      link: spittle
+...
+
+| He builds a ship as if it were the last thing
+| holding him together, as if, when he stops,
+| his body will fall onto the plate-glass water
+| and shatter into sand.  To keep his morale up
+| he whistles and sings, but the wind whistles [louder][]
+| and taunts him: Your ship will build itself
+| if you throw yourself into the sea; time
+| has a way of growing your beard for you.
+| Soon, you'll find yourself on a rocking chair
+| on some porch made from your ship's timbers.
+| The window behind you is made from a sail, thick
+| canvas, and no one inside will hear your calling
+| for milk or a chamberpot.  Your children
+| will have all sailed to the New World and left you.
+| But he tries not to listen, continues to hammer
+| nail after nail into timber after timber,
+| but the wind [finally blows][] him into the growling ocean
+| and the ship falls apart on its own.
+
+[louder]: apollo11.html
+[finally blows]: theoceanoverflowswithcamels.html