Poets Portal -A Beacon For Being

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Comment by Liv on June 4, 2009 at 12:46pm

Hi , it seems that sea knots is not only a place for sailors, but also a place for artists and writers.
It's a pleasure to be a member of sea knots and to meet like-minded people.
I've written a few things over the years, children's books, essays, some vintage car restoration musings and many lyrics for the songs I wrote.

Not sure if my writing will fit in here though but I'm certainly enjoying reading your work. Thanks for posting.

Comment by Pete on June 4, 2009 at 10:05am

I just found (and joined) the SeaKnots "Poets' Portal." Here's a bit of verse from an earlier age -- the days of my pub band, Mithril. Consider it a shout-out to my Middle Earth soul brother, Martin Duffy, and to Suky, for posting that fabulous star photo below. It's an original ditty titled "Starlight Memories." (I'll post the MP3 track on my page to go along with the lyrics.)

STARLIGHT MEMORIES

I can see the starlights shining
As I count them from my bed
And I wonder what they're hiding,
Painting pictures in my head.
And they make me want to touch the sky
Though they shine so far away
Still they keep me in their watchful eye,
Safely take me to another day.

Sleepy eyes, so close to dreaming,
Quiet evening, quiet night.
On a ship I sail the cosmic sea,
Timeless journey through the sky.
And the wonders of this universe,
Count the stars a million times
I could touch them as they pass me by,
In a moment's time they're left behind.

(chorus)
Yet it seems such a long way home to find this journey's end
And the dreams that I leave behind I may not dream again
But I'll remember them.

As the morning comes so quickly
Starlight memories fade away.
And the thoughts from all my wondrous dreams
Like the magic seems unreal today
All those dancing colors I recall
From those stars that fill the sky
In that special dream I've touched them all
But as morning calls, I say goodbye.

Comment by Suky Cannon on June 2, 2009 at 5:09pm

What's changed ?
This is the question I've been asking lately as it relates to buying a large sailboat (though small by cruising standards).
I've been thinking a lot of how I bought my first cruising sailboat in the early early 80's, after a short lifetime of daysailers ~ whether they were Hobie Cats, 420's or windsurfers. Windsurfing was my favorite but you can't do more than a day cruise with them. At this point of my life, I don't want to spend all my time standing as I sail. So that's one thing that's changed ~ I'm lazier (with a weak ankle).

My first cruising sailboat was bought spontaneously. I find myself yearning for that spontaneous buy now. I was single, living in New York City, and spent summer weekends and my short vacation at the beach with friends in a 'share house'. One month before summer was to begin, we got word our summer landlord wanted to use 'our' summer house for his own. We went looking for another summer retreat, but that late in the season, the pickings were slim.
Sitting together over dinner, we were depressed with the prospect of no escape from the hot city. So when one of us said 'hey, let's take the money from the summer share and buy a sailboat," there was little hesitation.
There was also no internet, no yachtword, no sailnet, no craigslist and all the other various resources available today. So we hit the yellow pages for marinas and yacht brokers and headed out the next Saturday to look at boats on the south shore of Long Island. Most of the boats were on the hard. All we needed was a ladder that we moved from boat to boat. The next weekend we went looking again, made a choice from what was available and happily made the purchase.
We were accomplished sailors but not on cruisers. I think we made our final decision based solely on price and an extra high mast since we'd be sailing in Long Island Sound, which has light summer winds. We ended up with a used 33 foot sloop. We renamed her Genesis and within 2 weeks, we took delivery. Our maiden voyage took Genesis from the Great South Bay of Long Island, up the East River of New York City to a mooring off City Island, just east of the Throgs Neck Bridge. That first cruise we went aground, lost our way, dragged the anchor but had no regrets. It helped that we were easy-going, slow to panic, knew how to sail and had a library of boating books. Our library consisted of about 8 books. When we went aground, we thumbed through the various indexes and figured it out.

So, what's changed ? I don't want to make a mistake. I am more knowledgeable with many years of cruising experience. Maybe too knowledgeable. I am on my own and purchasing what will be a home rather than a weekend retreat. But I find I miss 'communal' ownership (now called fractional sailing) and more carefree shopping. I'm more cautious, more thorough. But somehow, it feels like it's just getting in the way - all this information.
So as I yearn for that once spontaneous buy, perhaps I am yearning for spontaneous youth and the freedom it represents. But then I remind myself, it's not a question of years but state of mind and attitude. One of the greatest gifts of sailing, is understanding how it is the best metaphor for living life.
To be continued, (certain of that) !

Comment by Suky Cannon on May 31, 2009 at 4:37pm

Certain

certain summer is my season
singing ‘sitting on dock of the bay,
watching the tide roll away’.

sweetly lifted by twilight’s breeze
savoring each wave
as hulls skim indigo waters,

watching for the green flash
shouting freedom.

relishing deep salty breathes
in lovely harmony,
steering by the pleiades sisters.

sometimes one need only
to plan the journey
and never leave home.

sometimes you must take flight
sipping tea
just you and the sea.


SC grrls sailpress

Comment by ___/)ances With Sails on May 30, 2009 at 11:23pm

My Mission Statement To Cruise

Sailing is on my mind. Wanting an adequate boat of nothing more than that, I beat the bushes with some of the wisest. There is undoubtedly more than I can fathom about the experience of boating, cruising, selecting, fitting, maintaining, owning and sharing a boat. And that is just scratching the surface for to dwell deeper into each subject leaves my mind swimming. Boats are of many makes, styles, eras, intentional usages, capabilities, refits from market, only to be surveyed, each and every inch, justified for reliability and function, tested and reclaimed before desired.

The more I learn the more overwhelmed I become with the thought of cruising. Do I accept a second individual for safety’s sake? Allow my patience to be tested with the obvious reasons I choose to escape to the solitude of the open, wet desert. Surviving what is unknown to me is my alternative objective to live it. Unknown though becoming familiar through testimonies of the’ know-how’s’, ‘been-there’s’, as well as the ‘not-for-me’s.'

Pressured with reality, ‘just do it’, the dream, the passion, the challenge and the victories, I anticipate the day I cast my lines away. Fully packed to carry me beyond, knowledgably of what MAY lie ahead, in the wakes too. Fitted for one, (or two?), satisfied finally with my rig for it no longer is contemplation rather a live, breathing, and capable of killing me functional machine. The more proud of her I am for she is mine. My creation tweaked to sustain me from the elements of time. Elements which claim many by incident, fate or geological time will be my world rather than foe. Only a fair chance to chance upon the doable is my goal, and beyond that is up to me.

Becoming one with the systems is the answer. The systems of liquid, gas, pressures, electric, plumbing, carpentry, seamanship, social and bodily, will be of utmost importance. Managing, rationing, decisions, logs, immediate judgments based on each or all, simultaneously or not shall not be under-looked, overlooked, or ignored.

Willing to endure it ALL, I am alive with the idea to live aboard a vulnerable object subject to the worst’s one can imagine. I avoid the Nay-Sayers. Enthusiasm stems from reads of those who’ve done it. I feel like a king just with the thoughts and persist I show in myself. I stand 10 feet taller as I promise myself, ready myself and warn myself of the day I cast.
-L.J.

Comment by ___/)ances With Sails on May 14, 2009 at 7:06pm

Well I got me a fiddle and I play justa liddle
Liddle like hell ya couldn’t tell
I can hardly put it down when it needs a rest
Really put the wood and strings to the test
Well its holdin up well as i can tell
Got ‘er straped there in the middle
Sawin hard on that por liddle fiddle


Well git’n up late
-in the day
grab that fiddle
,before it gits away
strap ‘er tighter
through her middle
saw twice harder on that fiddle


Well my coordination is a lil rough
Four hot strings
-just enough
to keep me busy for a spell
Go to bed? You go to hell!


My cig’s a burnin
Patience yearnin
Margarita mixer in th kitchen churnin
Notes callin out gradually spurnin
Dogs ready to go, I see him squrmin
-L. Hill

Comment by ___/)ances With Sails on May 14, 2009 at 6:58pm

The Thrill Of The Chase


The Horizontal Side Of The Sky Was Blue,
'N the Waters Too, Except Where They Were Black.
We Set Our Sails And Persons As Well
As we Prepared For The Opposite Tack.
It Chased Me.
It Tagged Me.
It ran Free - Chase Me!
Still Fumbling From The Jibe,
Her Caught Up In The Line,
We Managed To Trim The Jib.
I Bet She's Wishin'
We Were Back Home Kissin'
And Rollin' Around In The Crib.
Heeling Her Enough
With The Main About To Luff
We Set Our Course On Air,
With A 'Little More Sail
And The Buckets To Bail
And no Time For Despair.
Your Right There, So Right There.
Haul In On The Main - Don't Care.
Grab Another Bucket And Move Your Ass over here.
Now Hold On to The Mainsheet While I Get The Leverage To steer.
Now Let The Mainsheet Fly Cause The Wind Is Gonna Veer.
Holy Shit! You Didn't Let It Fly.
Now The Main Is Gonna Bust.
One More Gust,
And I'll Be Atop.
Your Ride Is What I crave.
One More Puff,
That's All I needed,
On My Pedestal Wave.
Reaching Outward For You,
You Whisper Through The Shrouds,
Chase Me, Chase Me.
YOUR IT! I Shouted,
PREPARE TO COME ABOUT!
The Horizontal Side Of The Sky Was Blue,
'N The Waters Too,
Except Where They Were Black.
-L. Hill

Comment by Suky on May 14, 2009 at 9:28am

EB White - author Charlotte's Web & The Elements of Style is a sailor's sailor. This quote from him always inspires a smile.
I have noticed that most men when they enter a barber shop and must wait their turn, drop into a chair and pick up a magazine. I simply sit down and pick up the thread of my sea wanderings, which began more than fifty years ago and is not quite ended. There is hardly a waiting room in the east that has not served as my cockpit, whether I was waiting to board a train or to see a dentist. And I am usually still trimming sheets when the train starts or drill begins to whine.

Comment by Suky on May 14, 2009 at 9:16am

Wonderful poetry /)ances ! Thanks for getting this salon started !

Comment by ___/)ances With Sails on May 11, 2009 at 7:59pm

Nautical Girl

We Met Up The Street.
I Thought She Was Neat.
I Yearned To Get Her Wet.
For A few Dollars Less,
Her Mother Said, I Guess,
You Were Made For Each Other Now Get!
With A Compass Aboard
This Girl I Adored,
We Set To The Open Waters.
Got A New Love,
A Hot Steamy Passion.
One That Ceases Chasing Daughters.
It Is Her I control,
Keeping Her So,
And Getting My Thrills
The Harder The Winds Blow.
She Leans To Me Covering
Me With The Sheets Of Her Willingness,
As Her Fullfilled Rightousness Carries Us Away.
A Timeless Relationship,
Lasting For Eternity,
And Taking It Day By Day.
With My Hands Upon Her
I Feel Her Gentleness,
But Oh How She Comes Alive.
We Get Carried Away
Reaching And Beating
Till Eventually We Jibe.
She Is So Giving A Dream Come True.
I Am So Lovesick You Haven't A clue.
As I Sprawl Atop Of Her Together We Flew,
Together, Together,
Today And Tomorrow Too.
-L.Hill

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