Jibe-Ho!
There is something to be said
For capsizing,
For touching white crests
Which mirror white breasts of gulls.
There is something which pulls
Me into darkened waves,
Into ice peaks and mouthy
Fish souls.
A deep rush down deep lungs,
I dive into Time's ocean,
Confusing what was with what is and
what will be with what was.
To leave my boat behind,
A woeful wreck on jagged rock,
To float into a throne of shells,
I do not find something so wrong with that.
Goodbye, dear hull.
Goodbye, dear jib.
Goodbye, dear rudder.
I will remember your sleekness,
Even as I drift tugged by waves
And whales.
To travel the gulf stream cannot
Be so bad...
There is something to be said
For capsizing,
But more to be said for
Release.
This is one of the poems that I wrote over this summer. One of my main concerns is I am unsure whether it fits into my thesis. I mean, of course I can extrapolate, but I just wanted to see what your sense was. Do you think that it shows the formation of an identity (and simultaneous the destruction of an identity)?
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I actually read this poem on your personal blog a few days ago, and was immediately taken by "There is something to be said / For capsizing," which I think is a great beginning. The line continues on: "For touching white crests / Which mirror white breasts of gulls." This parallel--(which I love)--between the sea and sky introduces the concept of capsizing as synonymous with the freedom of flight. This relationship continues throughout the rest of the poem, seen in the speaker's attraction to the waves ("There is something which pulls / Me into darkened waves,") and even the interplay between air and water ("A deep rush down deep lungs,")--amongst other things.
ReplyDeleteI think that this poem fits nicely into your thesis. I get a real sense of scale from this--a sense of the smallness and contained identity of a ship combating the vastness of the sea. By embracing shipwreck, the speaker destroys the notion of a boat being the only way to travel out on sea and, in doing so, creates a new identity. What I especially like about this poem is that it is unclear whether the shipwreck is entirely intentional or not. I imagine the speaker to be daydreaming when suddenly the boat suddenly starts tilting. The aftermath is a kind of, "Oops, look at that. I capsized."
The last two stanzas are spoken after the speaker is shipwrecked...I particularly like the image of someone floating on the sea, muttering or thinking the last line to themselves. Lastly, the title is great. I wasn't familiar with sailing terminology and had to look it up. "Jibe-ho!" sounds like a really positive call and--even though it is the precursor to the shipwreck--I don't think it has an entirely negative connotation here. Something else interesting: this would be something called out to warn other members on a ship that the direction of the ship needed to be altered. There is only one speaker in this poem and no mention of other people. It's possible that there are other crew members who are stranded, but only one member who likes shipwreck; it's also possible that a lone person called out jibe-ho while sailing, which makes the whole thing a bit funnier..."jibe-ho" standing in for a sort of "land ahoy!".
The more I read this poem, the more I like it. It's like a treasure hunt!
Test: I want to see if I can post anonymously.
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