I went to sea as a boy
But my Portsmouth dirtier by far,
My channels the Ohio and Mississippi.
A quartet had jumped ship in New Orleans
In love with their own imporvised jazz
And as cabin boy I carried blame
Like slop or stew to the captain fierce.
The first mate threw me over
For laughs one night.
Not so lucky as Gulliver or Crusoe
I had to compomise with male
Dolphins, only land in sight,
Continually pestering for more caresses,
An unknown distance on the fins,
Reaching shore exhausted,
Only to find the island a cove
Of sirens expecting another Odysseus
In no hurry to return to surprise Penelope.
Each time I closed the book I took
A fresh look at the bottlenose
Winking from the cover.
©CopyrightThomas Kretz