#1025 -- working the harbour

 

27.x.22

1025

3.299

working the harbour

(Amsterdam)

diesel slow

all by crane

like those soft toy grab fascinations

take all this rust wire bent

broke concrete more to smash

gulls too, hard at it

here there bright buoys

sky clearing

vapour trails

aeroplanes once in a while

sun with us sitting

I, underbrim

odd dinghy bobbing

just a few blues

grey of steel

some shouty yellows take each other on

hoses and trolleys, bags thrown

smashing glass

all alongside

steel tub for the purpose

with a lovely wooden wheelhouse

tug towing

all those city windows

long boats with Dutch names

suitcases are coming aboard

hi-vis people work the day

hauling and drawing, steering

afoot, afloat, some on the wing

here’s sun in your eyes

last smoke of a fading age

seas up

the harbour is building itself

pages open, lit

a bee comes to land

thinks better

I’m working the harbour into a poem

into a picture

only what’s there

just what I see

everything’s fixed to sink

I’m the only one here killing time