The Queen Mary
Just weeks after the big earthquake,
we boys drove into Los Angeles with dad.
We toured the Queen Mary.
Fog obscured the harbor,
and the ocean was confined to its cage.
I have described our visit
in more detail in another poem---
suffice it to say we were impressed.
Down in the engine room
the propellers volunteered in vain.
Dad said, “ Too much of our lives
is spent on land.”
Coming from a guy who gets seasick,
and will not fly,
we thought it was
funny as hell.
posted by RC @ 12:01 PM
2 Comments:
There's several things I like about this poem: the line 'and the ocean was confined to its cage', the fact that I had a similar experience with my won father (he took me to see a destroyer in Troon one (Christ, it was cramped in there)) and the fact that the poem references another poem – I've never seen that done before and I think it's great.
Masefield, known for his salty sea poems, I have recently discovered suffered so badly from seasickness that when the ship he was on reached America he went AWOL and went on a walkabout. You'd never know it from his verse.
Thanks,Jim.The trip I speak of in the poem took place in the 90's. I've read Masefield, but I never knew about his seasickness.I myself suffer from chronic vertigo, but it has never troubled me the few times I've been out at sea.
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