My Boat, My Waves (Love Poem) Poem by Doren Robbins

My Boat, My Waves (Love Poem)

Rating: 5.0


I start out
to write about
the boat on my
medallion from Crete.
A never-replaced
chain holds it
through the loop.
I wear the necklace
with a boat to remember
what happened
when I made the stops
I shouldn't have,
though mostly
it has been
a life in which I never
had to say, 'should've
sailed when the sailing
was good.' And I wear it
to remember the storm
between Mikanos and Crete
that tipped the Cretan fishing boat
with such force I thought
it wouldn't recover.
I set out to keep in mind
the boat moving
around my chest hair,
my waves, and the storm
you can't see coming,
and the water where
some fishermen learn
not to go, that place
their wives dread.
Me and something, and
something else swinging
when I walk, or when I lean
over her mouth. I wear
the necklace for protection,
I wear it to remind me that Linda,
who gave it to me, who, reaching up,
hooked it together, found it on Crete
in a shop in Agio Nickolaus
called Big Cheap Store
where, in fact, nothing
was cheap, and mostly
there was only one
of everything for sale,
and the bartering
wasn't easy, but
it was done.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Sandra Osborne 05 December 2004

Very good, that really flows. Like a short story in verse. Excellent.

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Herbert Nehrlich1 03 December 2004

Jeeeesus: Wher did you come from? Keep 'em coming.

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Doren Robbins

Doren Robbins

Los Angeles, California
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