block
he watched while now became then and then became now
[sheerness]
a thousand tongues gawked at the sails from a corner of kent
[admiral’s fid and fid]
gunter rigs told every woman that godwits had probed the medway mud
[dukeofalbemarle]
corrugated time licks the anchored dutch like a lollipop
[clew garnet block]
there was no phantom ship here; the cutwater this time was real
[thebattleofcapestvincent]
a surprise dreamt up by de witt – unseen, a turnstone flipped a pebble
[peterpettscapegoat]
it was not clear who he was, this naked man, thinking in snatches
[belaying pin rack and pin]
he walked in the marshland counting birds, pulling ships from his brain
[vanderdecken]
small saplings sprouted from his shoulders as the chain was breached
[rivermouthriver]
later, the brothers were lynched and half eaten by the mob
[jandebaen]
the corpses felt a painter’s brush on their upside-down ribs
[greenhouse in labour]
they leant their thoughts against a distant curtain wall
[michielderuyter]
the pineapple told agneta of its paraguayan cradle. her green fingers listened
[parrel truck and ribs]
it is so hot under this leaning glass, a copse of mizzen masts could grow
[sirrobertseppings]
the mist will see a voice in the trees and dust on the idea
[standing rigging]
quick, powder monkey! bring the magazine, the gun-crew is waiting
fabian peake may 14 2017
