31 March 2022

cargo memo (I-III John Masefield ‘Cargoes’ poem)


E A B E

quinquireme of / Nineveh from / distant / Ophir

A E B E / A E B E / ABEEBE / B E E B E

rowing home to / haven in / sunny / Palestine

A E B E

with a cargo of / ivory, / apes and / peacocks

A E B E 

sandalwood, / cedarwood, and / sweet white / wine


II

stately Spanish / galleon / coming from the / Isthmus

dipping through the / Tropics by the / palm-green / shores

with a cargo of / diamonds, / emeralds, / amethysts 

topazes, and / cinnamon, and / gold / moidores


III

dirty British / coaster with a / salt-caked / smoke stack

butting through the / Channel in the / mad March / days

with a cargo of / Tyne coal, / road-rails, / pig-lead

firewood, / iron-ware, and / cheap tin / trays


IV

wet Kijal / jetty where / cruise ships once / came

alone and / forlorn now in a // heart-broken / care

with thick sand / encroaching on / rough concrete / walkway 

thumping foam / breakers kick / rusting sea / air


the rain brings a / cargo of / memories to / me

I think of you / both in the / brusque monsoon / here


York Street, / Macquarie, a / Waverton / café

Opera House, / Cockatoo, / Redoak night / beer

I think of you / both in the / brusque monsoon / here

Boráros, Corvinus, Köbánya-Kispest

Haller, Keleti, Budapest beer