the small islands uncover themselves slow
and the school bus has already run
gentlemen of the river, we wait
until the Belle is finished getting ready
all dressed up in the sun
Tag Archives: steamboat
down in hold 16
these steel ribs hold a century on
after wroughting hands are dust
my lungs wet with condensation and rust
encased in a baptism of sweat and silence
God is in the bildgewater
physiology of a steamboat fireman
my eyes spotlights the river the pressure gauge the clock
my feet tapping to the tune the cruise tocks
my knees the pistons moving pitman legs
my head a series of endless bilges and bleeding bulkheads
my belly the boiler forever firing
my hands mere extensions of valves of wrenches of torches