The Devil Is Distraction Poem by Douglas Scotney

A sign that Distraction
is aboard the Pequod,
i.e. is in 'Moby Dick',
is the lack of a glossary of terms;
which want
has you sounding your wordbook
for jargon words like 'oakum',
which you leave unsounded at your loss.

It's untwisted rope that's teased
and stuffed with tar
into the seams of ships.

'Seam' you sound
and are distracted.
As well as a join between edges,
it's 'grease' and 'to grease',
and the maximum burden
you can carry with ease.

'Over-' and 'under-''seaming'
are possibilities;

and, by the way, 'oakum'
is from the Old English
for 'to comb back', 'to tease'.