February 2016
J.C. Elkin
janecelkin@yahoo.com
janecelkin@yahoo.com
I am an optimist, linguist, singer, and founder of the Broadneck Writers’ Workshop. My chapbook, World Class: Poems I nspired by the ESL Classroom (Apprentice House, 2014) is based on my experiences teaching adult immigrants. Other poetry and prose appear domesticallyand abroad in such journals as KansasCity Voices, Kestrel, Angle, and Steam. For more info please isit my website: http://www.broadneckwritersworkshop.com/jane-c-elkin.html
Adrift
I spy your pain vast as the briny blue.
I smell the creosote that seals your hold,
but don’t let enmity be what you rue
in logging a life’s voyage when you’re old.
S.S. Resentment is a mutinous ship
of blaggards bent on vengeance, lust and greed
since first its bow was christened in the slip
of poverty, abuse, neglect and need.
But pirate mates have nothing warm to offer
when sleet is raining down upon your soul.
The gold is locked inside the Captain’s coffer
each time the ship is headed for a shoal.
It’s time to cast your spoils into the foam.
Set sail and chart a new course bound for home.
-first appeared in The Society of Classical Poets
Super Bowl XLVII, Post-Sandy Hook
It’s all about the booty for these guys
these modern urban pirates with gold teeth
team colors black and purple as a bruise
fearsome sneers, war paint and tribal tats.
It’s all about the booty with these ads
for Bud and Dodge and Taco Bell and Coke
and Newtown’s children’s patriotic songs
more valuable than vows to keep them safe.
It’s all about the booty and the rings
the eighty-eight grand dollars they will earn.
From Beyonce’s lap dance to tight end struts
it’s all about the booty, babe. That’s all.
Murmuration
The thing with starlings — they astound!
Dancers synchronized in flight,
they darken skies in endless squalls,
surfing winds in curling waves,
countless as a locust plague,
aimless as a Mongol horde
raiding with no Kahn in sight,
flooding land with boastful noise.
Not loud as loons or grand as swans,
but nonetheless startling,
each bird just the same,
each dance so unique.
-first appeared in Helen
Adrift
I spy your pain vast as the briny blue.
I smell the creosote that seals your hold,
but don’t let enmity be what you rue
in logging a life’s voyage when you’re old.
S.S. Resentment is a mutinous ship
of blaggards bent on vengeance, lust and greed
since first its bow was christened in the slip
of poverty, abuse, neglect and need.
But pirate mates have nothing warm to offer
when sleet is raining down upon your soul.
The gold is locked inside the Captain’s coffer
each time the ship is headed for a shoal.
It’s time to cast your spoils into the foam.
Set sail and chart a new course bound for home.
-first appeared in The Society of Classical Poets
Super Bowl XLVII, Post-Sandy Hook
It’s all about the booty for these guys
these modern urban pirates with gold teeth
team colors black and purple as a bruise
fearsome sneers, war paint and tribal tats.
It’s all about the booty with these ads
for Bud and Dodge and Taco Bell and Coke
and Newtown’s children’s patriotic songs
more valuable than vows to keep them safe.
It’s all about the booty and the rings
the eighty-eight grand dollars they will earn.
From Beyonce’s lap dance to tight end struts
it’s all about the booty, babe. That’s all.
Murmuration
The thing with starlings — they astound!
Dancers synchronized in flight,
they darken skies in endless squalls,
surfing winds in curling waves,
countless as a locust plague,
aimless as a Mongol horde
raiding with no Kahn in sight,
flooding land with boastful noise.
Not loud as loons or grand as swans,
but nonetheless startling,
each bird just the same,
each dance so unique.
-first appeared in Helen
©2016 J.C. Elkin