---
title: The shipwright
genre: verse

project:
    title: Elegies for alternate selves
    css: 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