twenty-three

this is a test

Force meets force aboard the SS Drastus
the winds blow, the bosuns bellow
hand over hand up to the crow's nest we go
of the view from here, the less said the better
chance it or head back to port

Force majeure clause in the contract means we're done for
the waves wash over the edge, the edge receives them like long-lost brothers
hand me the scabbard, I will cut cords & learn what is this ocean made
of, what will it do if provoked, what has it got left, let
chance or what you want to call it carry us all along

Force the musicians to walk the plank: use
the pressure of the market or the march of history, whatever you have on
hand but get them to marching, let us be rid
of them. See what we have left at the end of it - by
chance notice the hand reaching angrily up from the churning water,
         initial D tattooed on its knuckle