Kate Garrett's Blog: a butterfly, pausing...

Hi People of Goodreads.

I've never used my blog on this site before, but it's Talk Like a Pirate Day, and I'm working on a book of pirate poems (very much for adults), Decked in Jackstays, which will be published by Pankhearst sometime in 2016.

So I decided to share around an unpublished poem from that collection, 'Splice the mainbrace' (which is 18th century - or thereabouts - nautical slang, calling for drinks to be poured), in celebration of the day. Drink up, me hearties, yo ho...

Splice the mainbrace

Raise a glass, boys
to your shipmate:
lashed and flayed by
the old captain (who laughed
as he rubbed
cayenne in the wounds),
killed by infection –

and drink, to the captain
himself, a problem solved
with all hands on deck.

Raise a glass to the creak
of time that decides
how long you wait
until you see them both again.

Raise a glass to the sloop
whose sails burnt down
the wind to ash the waves
but left us with plenty
of barrels.

Drink, raise a glass, boys
there’s time yet
for making the merry most
before we join them.


© Kate Garrett 2015