another boat full of dead families
washes up on the beach
paradise lost
for all their eternities
upturned bucket built sandcastles
joy-scaped sentinels
of impermanence
await a different tide
we turn the boat about
push it back
to the nowhere it came from
let its shadow fall there
their forced middle passage
no more of a choice than times past
we look away and build sandcastles
in the air of our own enslaved mindset
Notes:
Yesterday a photo journalist by the name of Santi Palacios posted a disturbing image on Twitter, which formed the basis for this poem.
Middle Passage was a term used to describe a portion of the Slave trade route.
It is heartbreaking especially imagining one’s own family in one of those boats.
This is so heart-wrenching.. 😦
This completely broke my heart 😦
Raw and intense. This happened with Cuban refugees as it does now with Syrians. Such a sense of hopelessness that I suppose we can extrapolate to include anyone whose hopes are crushed. Sad, indeed. And disturbing.
to the nowhere it came from
let its shadow fall there…. it is horrible the way we so easily distance ourselves from horror and tragedy as long it doesn’t directly touch our lives. Well said…
A very poignant write and image Paul that can be a metaphor for so many tragedies throughout the ages.
Both the words and the photo are poignant and heart-touching.
The sand with its multiple uses and connotations is a well chosen metaphor. The power of poetry has ever been the power of change.
Thank You Jilly. Perceptive comment as always.
Well, I immediately thought of that saying “build castles in the sky” (although yours was in the sand) but it brought to mind a similar meaning of unattained hopes and dreams for those unfortunate souls.
My last stanza echoes that thought
I see that.
Great minds 😉
Yes… 😊
Permanence and transience, sand and dissolving shores, enslaving minds and bodies…
“Joy-scaped sentinels of impermanence,” wow!
Oh my God, that upturned bucket building sand castles juxtaposing the capsized boats really shows the horror of the state of our world: what an overturned reality some children live, and die.
I know we are not all in that boat but I am getting an ever rising sense of grief about how many are.
Most traumatic to be presented such images at this time and age! No one seems to care!
Hank
I’m not sure, given the scale of dysfunction, people know how to care anymore.
This is so awfully sad. Thank you, nonetheless, for sharing.
You’re welcome. Sad but true.