Poetry

There was a ship

There was a ship at sea in a storm. There was a ship. It was at sea. A storm whipped its sails. There was a captain of the ship at the wheel of the ship at sea in a storm. He was yelling back into an angry wind. He was angry, yelling into the wind, carrying a load, a heavy load. There was creaking wood. There was a load, churning below, bound and bedded. There was a load below. There was a ship. There was a storm.
 
Stay True. Stay True she said. Stay True she said to the ship. She could see out to sea. She could see the wide sea in the storm. Stay True she said to the ship, even if the captain curses the Goddess of the Sea so bitterly. Stay TRUE to the course. Stay True she said to herself. Stay True she said to the ship. Stay True to me too she said. Look out to Sea. Freedom or Death. Stay True. Be True.

He Said She Said We Said

 I’ve been performing this poem for more than a decade…but it seems timely…

The gig at the Five Forks branch of the Greenville Public Library, back in April 2019, was sponsored by the library. They reached out to the Greenville Jazz Collective to provide a program of jazz and poetry, so then the GJC reached out to me for the poetry. I would still like to work on an arrangement for this piece, especially including some percussion, and then record it…