Honeymoon On The Titanic, For Elaine Poem by David McLansky

I held a feather to your lips
To catch a breath, a tiny wisp;
In hope the feather would gently swell
Signing life still in you dwelled

But alas the feather did not stir,
What happened then remains a blur;
I was roughly torn from your side
Ice Fingers reaching for my bride,
;
Oh moon where is your radiant heat,
Your basking glow that made life sweet,
Oh moon where is your after glow,
That sparkles in the star strewn snow

I was dumped into an empty lifeboat.
And lowered into the freezing float; ,
Cast off from the sinking ship
My heart sank as I watched it slip

I watched the bow rise in the gloom
Water poured from every room
Bodies tumbled down the deck
Broken dolls, with broken necks;

A rolling fog masked our doom
A descendent curtain, a gray perfume
Cloaked my vision, and blinded me
Bodies floated in the sea.

The ship reared up, crackng spine,
Its bowhead slipped into the brine
My head hung over the boat's gunwale;
The use of life having all turned stale.


In a town called Calgary
Elaine knelt down and touched my knee

'In a choppy sea never trust a feather
To check for life in the worst of weather.'