Port of Poems: for pirates, smugglers and other rogues

Given the popularity of the Portal to Fairy Tale Poetry, I thought, why not pirates and the like!
With links to my poetry, some great poets, and some I've just found. If you find some more, I'd love for you to leave a comment, or for my shy friends, (you know who you are:) ), talk to me and I'll add them.

In the meantime, 
Enjoy!
(poems are in alphabetical order)

A Ballad of John Silver by John Masefield

We were schooner-rigged and rakish, with a long and lissome hull,
And we flew the pretty colours of the cross-bones and the skull;  

read aloud or read the words yourself

 

A Smuggler's Song by Rudyard Kipling

An amazing poem...if you don't remember, it starts like this...
If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by.

Articles of Faith

Part 1: Pirate's life & Part 2: How Doth the Deinosuchus

Part 3 Dancing Pirates by A.J.Ponder

The use of pirates as a metaphor for

Cargoes by Poet Laureate John Masefield

Nice contrast of the exotic against industrial Britain. And in the juxtaposition lies the tragedy. The poem is featured by both Helen McKinlay and Helen Lowe on their Tuesday Poem blogs.

Here be Dragons by A.J. Ponder

Yo ho
and there's a map to
where the skeletons lie,
sunning themselves
on the sand and
Spanish gold...

 

Murdering Poetry by A.J. Ponder

I would kill... 

Timothy The Pirate by Charles M. Moore

 "...Timothy the pirate
he didn't like the sea..."

Piracy by A.J. Ponder

I still quite like this, it's space pirates (so insane) and the pace gathers momentum as the tragedy unfolds. :)

Pirate Story by Robert Louis Stevenson

I'm not sure how anyone can resist the cute version of kids playing pirate on the lawn.

And so, there we have them all. The pirates we love to love, and love to hate, have a great week! And if you haven't yet had enough poetry, there are always more fabulous poems on the Tuesday Poem Hub, or on my blog,

 

A.J.

Find my stories and support my writing on ko-fi 

And tell me which poems you'd like to see in my upcoming poetry book—2024? https://ko-fi.com/ajponder

The Pirates in England by Rudyard Kipling

When Rome was rotten-ripe to her fall,
  And the sceptre passed from her hand,
The pestilent Picts leaped over the wall
  To harry the English land.

The little dark men of the mountain and waste,
  So quick to laughter and tears,
They came panting with hate and haste
  For the loot of five hundred years.

They killed the trader, they sacked the shops,
  They ruined temple and town-
They swept like wolves through the standing crops
  Crying that Rome was down.

They wiped out all that they could find
  Of beauty and strength and worth,
But they could not wipe out the Viking's Wind
  That brings the ships from the North.

They could not wipe out the North-East gales
  Nor what those gales set free-
The pirate ships with their close-reefed sails,
  Leaping from sea to sea.

They had forgotten the shield-hung hull
  Seen nearer and more plain,
Dipping into the troughs like a gull,
  And gull-like rising again-

The painted eyes that glare and frown
  In the high snake-headed stem,
Searching the beach while her sail comes down,
  They had forgotten them!

There was no Count of the Saxon Shore
  To meet her hand to hand,
As she took the beach with a grind and a roar,
  And the pirates rushed inland!


Rudyard Kipling (Saxon Invasion, A.D. 400-600)

First published in Three Poems (1911) The Pirates in England was originally called The Pirates of England. It's quite different to his, A Pict Song here, whatever anyone else may say. Because Rudyard Kipling is so awesome ...and out of copyright...other Rudyard Kipling Poems on this website are The Vampire and, my favourite, A Smuggler's Song.

Enjoy your week!

A.J.  
P.S. Next Week's Pirate Portal...(and various other vagabonds - it depends what I find)...should end my obsession with pirates for a while.

 

Articles of Faith: Part 1: Pirate's life & Part 2: How Doth the Deinosuchus

Articles of Faith

Part 1: Pirate's life

Hey Jollies,
it's a pirate's life we wanted,
with ne'er enough rum
to splice the mainbrace,
although our articles
were a work of faith,
when the land
was ruled by golden sharks.

Hey Jollies
it's a pirates life we live,
with never enough rum
to splice the mainbrace,
as our articles,
are pitched,
and long broken,
against a tide of green


while we dance silent and
barefoot amongst the flotsam,

and the gaping jaws of monsters
bellowing loud enough to break the heart...

Part 2: How Doth the Deinosuchus

How doth the Deinosuchus
Improve his shiny tail
And poor the waters of denial
On every platinum scale

How sadly doth he sympathise
How neatly spreads his claws
And welcomes all the foolish in
With gently smiling jaws.

A.J. Ponder

More pirates next week. Dancing Pirates. I hope. The last part of Articles of Faith - which is about right, because it's an act of faith, given all I have right now are notes, despite having had this one on the back-burner for a while.

Moreover, I hope you enjoyed the reference to Charles Dodgson's work. I've always taken by How doth the Little Crocodile. So much so, I think it was the first poem I ever learned by heart. Although I suspect that the main consideration was the length, the warning of lurking danger in apparent beauty never gets old. Watch out little fish, and have a good week!

A.J. 

P.S. Articles of Faith Part 3 is here at http://anafflictionofpoetry.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/articles-of-faith-part-3-dancing-pirates.html

The Nylon Gibbet

There's death riding over the waves,
so lets raise the jolly roger
avast

It's been so long since
we danced the hornpipe,
and made our victims walk the plank
lest they raft ashore,
on plastic bottles
 
All hands to deck,
trim the sail,
and raise the nylon gibbet,
for the tide waits for no man -
and our ship's a ghosting
against a hot wind,
amongst the empty waves,
while the innocent
hang


And a don't ye splice the mainbrace
until we've raised
the black flag
avast

A.J. Ponder

The idea for this poem is a mash up of a "dancing pirates" idea that refuses to work, and this truly horrible article The Ocean is Broken http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1848433/the-ocean-is-broken/--this/

It's a real worry that everybody wants and needs what the sea can provide, but it seems not everybody is prepared to look after it.

Miss Lionheart on Amazon

A.J. Ponder is the author of Wizard's Guide to Wellington and  Miss Lionheart and the Laboratory of Death.  

(Bundled into a super secret underground bunker Lilly must use her awesome genius skills - and her not so awesome social skills to survive long enough to create awesomely dangerous creatures and escape almost certain death...

 

Pirate's Post: Here be Dragons

Yo ho
and there's a map to
where the skeletons lie,
sunning themselves
on the sand and
Spanish gold
lying
at the bottom
of the deep blue sea

Yo ho
you think you know
where x lies
but a jaunty tilt
is all the dragons need
for misdeeds and
misdirection
sending the unlucky
straight to the
skeleton's rocks
lying
at the bottom
of the seven seas

Yo ho
I'll wave the flag of fear
with crossbones
and let it fly
over the water
with a jaunty tilt -
It's a dangerous boat
on a treacherous sea
but here be dragons,
and if you're watching me
you'll miss them
amongst the glitter
of gold
on the rocks
at the bottom
of the seventh sea


A.J. Ponder

I know it's late, but I do hope you enjoy this little pirate piece on the danger of statistics!

A.J. 
Author of Quest, Prophecy, Omens, Miss Lionheart and the Laboratory of Death, Wizard's Guide to Wellington, Attack of the Giant Bugs - a You Choose Science Adventure, and The Frankie Files



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Piracy

Somewhere out near the furthest reach

past the spinney of Alpha C

the treasures of earth are

beached

far from the weathered wrecks

tossed out of the briny sea

She dreamed of blues and golden hues

where black's the only colour there is

and turned her face to the sky

somewhere out there

was love -

above was only a lie

And the flag they flew was the

grinning man -

she watched it blow

in the absent breeze

as her voice carried over

the crime

And the world came tumbling down

my friend

and the knaves ran off with the pie

so nobody told you the truth

my love

as they aired you out to die

For treasure will only rust at sea

but never while sailing the sky

silence packed into an airless

hold,

shot,

and left to lie.

 A J Ponder

A little fun this week - kinda.  Space Pirates, the good and the bad I guess.  I'm hoping everyone is having a good and productive week -

 A.J. Ponder's work is available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, and good Wellington bookstores