Paterson: Book II, Chapter 1, p. 50

A New Mind, A New Measure

Awake again, I am remembering:
cold and threaded wires dragging the sand
of the Middlegrounds, knotted knuckles manned
one-thousand feet above by three swaying
bodies and six swaying hands.  Waves knocking
the paint-flecked bow as wheels spin, gears click,
then whoompf! as the hard hull presses down thick
into the up-pushing sea.  Aft, locking,
cables pull iron-taught and spindles groan
as sea separates from sea.  Knots hold,
then, rising, thousands of bodies slap, cold,
but warming, as other hands reach through foam.
You know already how this thought will end:
Six hands, three hooks, another drop--suspend.


KMC 4/8/13