Wake – ECW Poetry

the Water and the Wake

When the sea cracked out came a memory

She was a tree limb, she is a ship—all at once

Rootless and full of sky. A ship mistress

Ark’d against the mast, in ecstasy over trouble-waters,

Gulls gailing siren cries make for eyes, her chin

The endless compass of the sea. How many years

Did she live under-sod before they un-buried her bones

How many more can she hold her breath,

Drifting on the whims of a headwind.

—ECW

Poem 65 Edited – Poem 65 Original

a second draft. i’m unsure.the water and the wake

I remember oozing from the crack in her. She was a tree limb; she is a ship.

I can still recall the white milk spilling out across the sea. A ship with a

wooden mistress leading us starward; arms outstretched and I came

from the deepest hull where the water beat drum-desperation against her broad sides.

I remember clawing at the gravel and reaching the caliche. Fracturing

every fingernail on the desert backbone and wishing still there had been water.

I reminisced of coming up for air after swimming for centuries in blue-bleak

blackness and gritting my teeth with sand for sanctuaries. Oh pity.

How many years did I live under-sod before they unburied my bones?

How long can I hold my breath; waiting for the tide…

–ECW