The Stormy Sea Poem by RIC BASTASA

that boat was too small
for this trip to the other island
the ladies sat next to me
and they were all silent
to the sounds of the waves
just beside us and i knew
that with just one mistake,

one mistake from the boatman
that boat would have sunk
but lo, how the boatman took
the boat was kind of a very
skilled skipper of the waves
of the stormy sea like he was one
surfer in California taking sides
with each wave with so much
art and beauty carefully scaling
where safety lied and where
danger waited for an ambush

i was looking at each side
of the huge waves until
we reached Crocodile Island

of course the ladies knew that
it was no longer a joke but
a matter of a skilled boatman
making a choice between
life and death.

we chose life and the ladies and
the boatmen very well knew it.

the waves were too big for the
small boat but our silence was
even bigger. we survived.