POETIC JOURNALISM / EKPHRASIS

Can You Hear the Groans in Your Gift Stocking?

Seafaring. It’s that time of the year

Pseu Pending (Seu)

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Published in

The Howling Owl

2 min readOct 12, 2022

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Updated 2023

whooooOoooshhh … whooooOoooshhh …
somewhere. 40-foot steel containers moan
victoria’s secrets. holiday soaps. food
toilet rolls. laptops
across atlantic/pacific groan

oil sludge. body dumping
laws of the land apply not here
international waters where human crimes
fly unknown

whooooOoooshhh … whooooOoooshhh …
somewhere. a colossal merchant vessel sinks
—one every four days—
moving the globe by sea
not drone nor cyberspace

weapons in the ’80s. front for iraq. rear for iran
political cartoon non-chalant
big oil sees no difference
no difference. today

whooooOoooshhh … whooooOoooshhh …
somewhere. a small-bodied seaman folds over*
ship rail. chipping paint not ancient. ocean eaten
chip. paint. chip. paint. chip. paint.
ship bobbing. body bobbing

a norwegian turnaround exposes. arctic blade slashes
novice tropical sailors’ ignorant windbreakers
a shipmate decays. dues not paid
stranded not landed not flown

whooooOoooshhh … whooooOoooshhh …
somewhere. flags of convenience hail
countries landlocked now sail
sovereignties extend in labels
change hands in bail. goods. peoples

howling engines boiler rooms deafen
stowaways bend. pipes stifle
breath on hold—
next port weeks portend

whooooOoooshhh … whooooOoooshhh …
somewhere. wholesale garbage ships
canada exports. philippines imports
send it back! canada the garbage trap?
send it forth! hongkong. india. malaysia. now trapped

somewhere. someone opens
their holiday soap
discards
indifferent

WhooooOoooshhh … WhooooOoooshhh …
somewhere. a groaning hull continues. crashing waves

Thanks to Sally A Mortemore for the generous gift of recording my first published version of this poem and bringing it to life:

reading by Sally A Mortemore / uploaded Nov 6, 2022

I listened to it again, and again. I was in tears.