<!DOCTYPE html> <!-- Template for compiled 'Autocento' documents --> <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="generator" content="pandoc"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes"> <meta name="author" content="Case Duckworth"> <!-- more meta tags here --> <title>The shipwright | Autocento of the breakfast table</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/_common.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/verse.css"> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/elegies.css"> <!--[if lt IE 9]> <script src="http://html5shim.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/html5.js"> </script> <![endif]--> </head> <body> <header> <!-- title --> <h1 class="title">The shipwright</h1> </header> <section class="verse"> <p>He builds a ship as if it were the last thing<br />holding him together, as if, when he stops,<br />his body will fall onto the plate-glass water<br />and shatter into sand. To keep his morale up<br />he whistles and sings, but the wind whistles <a href="apollo11.html">louder</a><br />and taunts him: Your ship will build itself<br />if you throw yourself into the sea; time<br />has a way of growing your beard for you.<br />Soon, you’ll find yourself on a rocking chair<br />on some porch made from your ship’s timbers.<br />The window behind you is made from a sail, thick<br />canvas, and no one inside will hear your calling<br />for milk or a chamberpot. Your children<br />will have all sailed to the New World and left you.<br />But he tries not to listen, continues to hammer<br />nail after nail into timber after timber,<br />but the wind <a href="theoceanoverflowswithcamels.html">finally blows</a> him into the growling ocean<br />and the ship falls apart on its own.</p> </section> <nav> <a href="serengeti.html"> <span class="prevlink">< Serengeti</span> </a> <a href="#" id="lozenge"> ◊ </a> <a href="spittle.html"> <span class="nextlink">Spittle ></span> </a> </nav> </body> </html>