Depth Poem by Martin Byrne

Indiscriminately Indiscreet
Hating our lives we’re in the street
That night so softly we did sleep
Hating our lives, together we slept
Despite depth-
-charges that resonated through the metallic walls
Of our yellow submarine

*This is U-571 and WE ARE SCREWED! *

Diving deeper still, with unseen whales
From Wales and goldfish from a fishbowl
From my childhood
“Yes dear when the goldfish die, they go to
A better place, where no one goes belly-up alone”

*BOOM BOOM*

They’re still forcing us closer in the cramped
Captains Quarters
Which hold the controls for our deadly experiment
Of depth. How far down can we go?
My lowest of low is no where without some blow
And just to show-
-case my affection for you, I’ll say I can go
Another thousand leagues down with your company
Alone: I skim the surface of understanding goldfish and
Whales from Wales
Together: We are out of reach of the depth charges
(Which is the Germans way of saying “Hey you turn
around! You don’t know the ocean like we do”)

Back to the point, we hate our lives.
We decided to go crazy, then die in each others arms

Yet…

Plans put off for another day
Because in the depths beyond goldfish there lied clams
Unmistakably, I ripped a pearl out and gave it to you.
You cried.
The dying died and gave way to our future
Time passed, and the next time we signaled the Germans
*This is U-571, we’re doing fine*