The Trawlermen Poem
Most everything about the sea is dedicated to my father.
They sit in bars holding beer
Pipe smoke a weightless veil
O’er the heads of men together
Bulging guts absorbing ale
They stink of fish and diesel oil
Creased faces and bruised knees
On fishing trawlers, they sail away
Regardless of the raging seas
Leave their place beside the fire
To repair their nets and lines
Wearing baggy canvas clothes
Not for fashionable times
Fishermen own their desires
Of home as the skies turn red
Not for them the holy prayers
Or the comfort of a bed
Such lives are lived with tenacity
With rigor and with purpose
Not one believes in abstract
Nor pay anyone lip service
I grew up a snot-nosed kid
Under a fisherman’s watchful eye
Not for me; the banking world
A white shirt and a Windsor tie
I never fished under burning skies
But wrote rhymes in the dark of night
My skin was not leathered and weathered
My imagination was in the moonlight
If the poem doesn’t swallow my pride
And I have lived past ninety-three
I’ll write a poem about fishermen
The best of all humanity
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