SEA GRIEVER
(Felicia Lamport; minor editing* R.Greenhaus)

I must go down to the shores again,
Before the wine-dark sea
Becomes a bloody barricade
Of medical debris.
But all I find as the waves break
On the sandy beach's fringe
Is a crack tube, some stained gauze
And a hospital syringe.

I must go down to the shores again,
Despite the breakers laced
With suppurating sprays of sludge,
Contaminants and waste,
Replacing tidal rhythms
Once beloved by the bards
With clicks from hypodermics
And their plastic needle-guards.

I must go down to the shores again,
If only to lament
The prevalence of salty spume
Imbued with offal scent
And pray that we can find a way
To clear the mass of muck in it
Before Poseiden's trident ends up
Permanently stuck in it.

* I took the liberty of replacing Ms. Lamport's
"seas" with "shores" as the seventh word in each
verse. Too many "seas" in the first two lines. RG

Printed in N.Y. Times 8/10/88
@parody @water @medicine
see also SEAFEVER, SEACHILL
filename[ SEAFVR3
RG
mudcat.org

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