MV Muirneag

 

Like an ox on acetylene,

fabbed for freight,

yoked for the night-drag,

 

crossing the Minch like a skallag,

MV Muirneag,

sea-skip from rump to hummel,

 

blunt as a bleb

in her seam-web,

or bad weld bubble

 

that dreams the sheer

of a Zulu's

sailing wake

 

and of salt air's

spokeshave,

the wings of a gliding bird.

 

In Landing ed. Peter Urpeth,
HI-Arts Writing Development Co-ordinator

2011