Sirens of Blue

from my captain





Crustaceans live near the ocean shallows as do pirates,
a life between surface and deep,
a life between the land and sea,
for it is the place that the blue mermaid is found,
a place between the foggy mist and treasure abound.

Land is foreign to the pirate,
it gives no treasure and provides no renewal.
Land to a pirate is only rock, dust and dirt.
Sirons of blue waters lie in an unguarded seascape,
A pirate must cast off from the safe harbour,
Pull up the anchor and sail for secrets unexplored.

Oceans have a sky of blue where sirens wail,
said to be from the shimmer of a blue mermaids tail.
When the sirens call, I must come for I am a pirate,
to find quiet waters where the sun cast shadow
mingles between land and sea--there is treasure!

For my Captain

(from a blue mermaid)

Quite a charming pirate he-
the finest swordsman on the sea,
the finest spinner of the finest dreams
of uncharted islands and Argentines.

I hope he won’t hang his sword up for good
above the mantle to be taken down
when telling tales to his nephews (the lads)
of great adventures in the wide sea around
and of the blue mermaid whose heart he captured
('tis true she gave it willingly).
"She's real," he'll regale, though they won't believe
-"It seems like a mythology"

I'll dream in my harbour of his return
while my rogue, for awhile, returns to land,
and I'll reminisce of hideaways-
of buoys and floating pods and sand.

m9

mas de Carnaval

words on the page are too confining
to reveal the luminosity of the night
a revelry in the ancient sense
a lupercalia – or some other primal rite

this thrumming wild human heart
drumming in ecstatic expression -
one hundred sweating lovers lost
in the pleasure of the dance

the procession -
my hips become the drum
free of conscious effort
freed from even being hips,
becoming part of one long line
of hips and hands and bellies and breasts
that winds its way through the crowded room
my astonished mind along for the ride

meet me there
at the mouth of the cave
where pirates have hidden
their stash of rum.
meet me there
at the mouth of the cave-
if we call to them,
blue mermaids will come.

Mermaid in Blue

from a pirate
There once was an island that let the world stand still,
All that entered forgot time and moved to where they belong,
Volcano's roared but only for amusement,
for the real heat lie in the lava of those who take time to say,
"will my blue mermaid be there today?"

One hopes for the mermaid to arrive,
for it brings a lucky day and good cheer,
she is special in her blue allure,
she brings delite to the pirates with new discoveries near,

Oh alas, may I find the blue mermaid on my island.