Poem: The Captain
This week’s Poet’s Corner contribution is from Queensland InReview’s Phil Brown.
The Captain
“O Captain! My Captain! Our fearful trip is done”
Walt Whitman.
The Captain, late of the South Seas,
With his cocked hat, stared straight ahead:
In his eyes a sadness
As deep as the Mariana Trench.
When we first stayed at his motel
He was a jaunty figure
With a studied maritime bearing,
His wife always beside him at reception
A hibiscus flower tucked behind her ear
Like a figure from a painting by Gauguin.
The Captain, older by decades
Beamed when he glanced at her,
His smile lighting up those hollow eyes.
Two years later, when we returned,
A family clad in terry-towelling.
The motel had sagged somewhat and
There was a whiff of finality about the place:
The neon highway sign only partially lit.
The word RIVIERA now read V ERA.
This made my parents laugh.
The captain’s wife had left him
For a travelling salesman
(You couldn’t make that up).
He still wore his skipper’s cap
But no longer those lairy floral shirts.
His sorrow hung in the air like sea mist.
A green tinge circled the rim of the swimming pool.
We checked out early on some pretext
And as we drove away, I looked back
To see The Captain waving us off
His cap still at a rakish angle.
Phil Brown, living in Brisbane, is an arts journalist, commentator, poet, author, presenter at festivals and other events who has worked for major news outlets in Australia and internationally. Currently he is the editor of InReview, Queensland, which expanded from Solstice Media’s South Australian InReview. His poetry and short stories, travel and various other articles have appeared widely, individually and in collections, the latter including “The Kowloon Kid” published by Transit Lounge in 2019. His next book, “Confessions of a Minor Poet” will be published by Transit Lounge in October. More can be found about Phil and his work here.
Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to [email protected]. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.