Kraken

Our sloop suddenly halted in open water,
Like a reef had struck us,
Invoked by some pagan sea god,
The ship listed sharply in newly churning waters,
Bubbling,
Creaking,
Slithering,

Then it set upon us,
Oddity given flesh,
Seizing our vessel like a child’s toy,
A thousand grey boughs from below,
Bristling with vicious suckers,
Shattering mast and severing rope,
Plucking men like cockles,

This leviathan,
No spear or axe could deter it,
Lashing every inch of the deck,
I was thrust overboard in the chaos,
As I sank,
I saw my friends die,
Eaten doubly by fathom and beak both.

Drowning

I’ve been drowning in you,
Salt all over me,
My breath taken,
You’re the sun above the surface,
Out of reach,

In my thrashes,
The tide of the moment fills me,
My throat and lungs strain,
I reach out feebly,
You’re still there,

I’m almost gone,
I feel hands on my wrenching form,
Th suns rays are around me,
When your red lips touch my blue,
The bubbles stop.

Wreck At Sea

I remember once,
There was a man,
Proudly surfing the waves of stardom,
But it all changed,
When he found himself struck by grapeshot,
Battered by pearlescent deceit,
Discrediting gunpowder and iron,

Now he is a wreck at sea,
Forgotten,
Discarded,
Down in the breathless dark,
Laid beside lofty ideas and fallen anchors,
Coddled by sand and whalebones,
Now only an admiral of split timber,

Despite his lavish accolades,
He was the victim of mutiny,
Not at cutlass point,
But tongues coated in spite,
He became a lesson to others,
A cautionary tale,
Not to put your head above the gunwale.

Shifted Tides

One dark night not long ago,
Under the vigil of the full moon,
I metered the fathoms of my soul,
Plunging deep into the boreal waters,
Unexplored and abyssal,
There a quake had altered the sandy animus,

The tides have shifted,
The waves have chosen a new path,
I have chosen a new path,

Previously a filthy stowaway,
Is now an admiral,
What once was a worm,
Is now a sea serpent in a storm,
Bait swelling to become behemoth,
A minnow becomes a shark,

I am my own ocean,
I’m no longer beholden to the tides of others,
I’m no longer drowning.

Wishing Well

That well,
At rest amongst the ivy,
That ritual circle of brick,
With its watery maw,
They say it can grant wishes,
For a modest toll,
Of a single copper,
Visible are past offerings beneath the surface,

I don’t believe it,
It’s too good to be true,
That water is a trap,
Wishes are fairytales,
And wishes are bait,
I don’t trust the ocean,
How could I trust this well when water kills?
There be shipwrecks and leviathans.

Thalassophobia

Gazing into the abyss,
Losing your grasp upon direction,
Up may or may not be down,
From the murky brine,
You know many eyes glare back,
Black and unfeeling orbs,
The unknown hunger of a predator,

Gazing into the abyss,
Losing feeling as the temperature plunges,
Making out shapes in the dark,
They encroach upon the iron scent of your fear,
Fin and tentacle and tooth,
Rollicking eagerly just out of sight,
A predatory unknown just past the periphery,

Gazing into the abyss,
Feeling the pressure close upon you,
It’s like a deadly gallery of art,
You’re regarding a blue opaque,
Though it’s not admiration you offer,
But deep-seated dread,
The unknown is a predator.

Shark Planet

This blue planet,
It’s a churning sea of uncertainty,
One we wade through without aid,
Painted in scenic coral yes,
But rife with predatory affairs,
Dogfish of hardship nipping at our shins,
Betrayals with white-tip fins,
Megalodon’s of trauma,

Sharks swim these waters,
Careful where you tread water,
These annals of the world,
The planet can strike without warning,
Tear you heart from fin,
A struggle of swell and weeping,
This planet has teeth,
It smells blood on the current,

And like seals we are prey.

Abyssal

The waves are the embodiment of mystery,
An oblivion of crushing weight and shadow,
More unknown than the dark side of the moon,
Though its wane and wax has a rhythmic aria to it,
The abyss has a song all its own,
A dread tune,
Like tentacles licking at your eardrums,
Distorted static of whalesong,
The crunch of crabshell underfoot,
Its lyrics manifest as thalassophobia,
A warning in the mind,
Sharks teeth and squid beaks upon your nape,
Salt and brine on your tongue,
The knowledge that man is not welcome.

Submarine

Death haunts the depths,
A manmade shark,
A machine of war fathoms down,
In the cold below,
It is on the trail of prey,
A cyclopean eye guiding the way,
Stalking those unaware seals of steel above,
Merchant ship or frigate,
Following the reverberations of their iron lungs,
The word is given,
Doom is silently unleashed at knots,
And once the hunt is over,
And the prey is scrap metal,
Fade like orcas into the dark.

The Murk

After trying these new sweets,
Compliments of the white coats,
I find my thoughts lying in a swamp,
Those little candies turn my mind to slop,
A marsh under kaleidoscopic skies,
But it’s for the best they say,
It’s for the best,
I sit in this swamp in my mind,
Unaffected by the brisk swill,
My eyes rolling in slow motion,
Rolling slightly to the sides,
A curious blur over my eyes like plastic,
I feel no remorse,
No misery,
Nothing,
But it’s for the best.