Sailing Ships

Rising up

From fallen buildings
And stripped skylines
From dark spaces
Brick lined rooms
In basements of white houses
Where there is everything
In the mass of destruction
And like many men
We emerge with
Our hands raised
And callused
Raised
And on fire
Crossing waters and oceans and seas
Delivering our native soil,
Which is just dirt
And burning buildings
And broken windows
And empty eyes
Across waters and oceans and seas,
We leave pieces of ourselves
Just to find home
Yet still
People on fire
People in pieces
Sailing ships across waters
Across oceans
Across seas
Seeing only black and white beneath bows
Red,
Beneath their boots
And the weight of searching
Of finding home
Someday,
When the winds have stopped
And the night has been washed clean with light
When we have lowered our skulls
And our crossbones
Our campaign will end
It is then that we will stand still
In calm water
Hands on fire
We will fuse our pieces into places
Where they are not so small
Where they are not so broken
Where they are
Children
Mothers
And Fathers
Not angry men
Plowing ships into shores
No
When the wind stops
We will find our place
Among the pieces
Beneath the shadows of our sails
We will find color
Through clear water
Through common ground
Slipping fingers into fingers
We will find home

With hands open

And hearts on fire

This poem was written for an ekphrasis event held at Hot Shops in Omaha,Ne.  The piece I chose to write about (picture) was created by Ron Manabat and is entitled "Coral". I urge you to check out both Hot Shops and Ron Manabat.

This Poem is has been linked to dVerse-poets pub "Open Link Night"