Q is for Quick Step

Double duty today - It's Poetry Friday Roundup over at Live Your Poem with Irene, and it's Q-Day in the A-to-Z Challenge.  After your visit here, pop on over to either place for some quality blogs!
Quick Step's picture was not taken by me.  I'm going to try to get one of my own shortly!

"Quick Step"

Quick Step

Dance with me now,
A quickstep or tango,
A waltz or a samba,
Jitterbug or fandango,
Dance with me quick
Across the wide floor;
Cake walk or flamenco,
Away from my moor;

Cha-cha or shimmy,
Shuffle or slide,
Hustle or hula,
A polka or jive,
I want to get out there

To boogie and twist.
The water's just right;
Let’s do the whole the list!

Other Q boats I've found in Maine, but have not taken pictures of yet:

Queen B is the name of a lobster boat on Chebeague Island.  He's selling lobsters here, so you will have to ignore that it is a sales pitch until I can locate him and get a picture of his boat.  I don't really want to take a trip out to Chebeague, but I'll do what I have to do.

Queen's Lady - she's on the water now, so I can't get a picture of my own unless I find out when he's coming to dock to unload.

And Susie Q I think her name is...saw it driving by and could not get an easy picture, due to twisty and hilly roads and perpetual traffic (well, here that means someone could come over the hill any moment, but you don't know when that moment will be, so you don't dare to stop)  I'm going to try again, though it isn't really a Q.

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Added a new tab today, "Poet Tree".  I think I'll try to make a spot for poems no matter what my blog post is.  Here's a first instigated by Joy  at Poetry for Kids Joy.

K is for Karen Elizabeth

It's Letter K Day for the A to Z Challenge (see tab above to go to more great A to Z posts), and it is Poetry Friday.  Thank you, Diane, at Random Noodling for hosting today.

"Karen Elizabeth"

The sea is my road;
The spray is my air;
The helm is my soul;
Coils of rope my hair.

My strength's in my hull;
My keel keeps me true;
From bow to the stern,

 My heart is my crew.

"K & E II"

Real sisters in life, companions we two;
The smaller the old, the larger the new.

A father and son will soon get us set;
 Prepare us for launch, when deadlines are met.

Keels in the water, bait in the traps
Sisters will dance again o'er the white caps.

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Educational Korner

knots - check here for some ways to tie knots

Keel = The central framing part in the bottom of a ship's hull

Lobstering can kill you, literally.  Ropes and moving traps are always a danger.  Fishermen always carry a knife for cutting lines in case a foot gets caught in the ropes and they get carried overboard with traps.  Watch a scary lobstering trip (YouTube), with a good ending.

J is for Jacob & Rachel

The day of J-ay.
And this first poem was a first poem, scheduled and ready to post.  Then I came back to it today (which is yesterday officially for you) to check and see what I had put together.  I wasn't satisfied with it.  So I started messing with it.  I was just going to add to it, but then before I knew it:
Cut.  Revise.  Cut.  Paste in a different spot.  Cut.  Add. Edit-Undo, Edit-Undo.  Rewrite.  Add.  Think. Think.  Admonition to self - "Stop thinking and just see, feel and write".  Cut a bit, move a bit.  Done.  Whoops!  One more word change.

So the first poem just under the picture is old, below ~~~~~~ is new and revised.

"Jacob & Rachel"

1.
The lobsterman's job

To pass on to kin:

The traps are hauled up

And then tossed back in.
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2.
With barnacled hands
Sand dollar skin
 Periwinkle eyes
And rocky hard chin
He’s  a part of the land
A part of the sea
 A heart for the deep and
For his family.
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3.
Barnacled hands,
Sand dollar skin,
 Periwinkle eyes,
Rocky ledge chin;
 Part of the land,
Portion of sea;
 Heart for the deep
And for family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And now that I see both together, the second one is nothing at all like the original.  That's good.  Do you agree?  Or do you prefer the first?
"But I see three poems here," I hear you saying.  Okay, just came back to this, this morning, and did some cutting and resulted in #3.  That's my pick.  What a transition!  I think I'm finally happy with it.  Less is more here.  J is also for Just Do It.
I like revising.  Do you?  Have you ever started with a poem or piece and messed with it so much that it ended up totally different?

Educational Jargon:

Jumbo: A lobster that weighs over 2-1/2 pounds.

A Seaman's Woman

I watch the way your
Work gnarled hands
Comb through your
Tangled thinning strands
You reach for your storm-worn jacket
You grab your lunch
and kiss me "Thanks"
Your boots walk heavy
on the planks
I begin my waitful watching.
Sun warms the day
but not the seas
Over the side legs
swing with ease
Though slower than the day we wed.
Our grandson follows
quick behind
Hops in two young legs
At a time.
And runs his hand through tousled locks.
The day begins
for you anew
But it's no longer
mine to view
My life of sea is here on land.
I know the seas
that call your name
I've known that voice
and heard the same
I've baited and wrestled with ropes.
Side by side our
lives together
With winds, waves and
storms to weather
Until Salt and Sweet brought new tides
With life's new
challenges in hand
Though my sea heart
was grounded on land
It beat with you as you kept the tides.
Till you returned
from cold wild sea
For supper and
warm bed with me
These days and years skimmed by.
A son of the sea
Sweet left to marry
But Salt remained
to help you carry
Our name and all the load.
Son of Salt growing,
filling your boots
Puts down his
seaweed roots
And feels that tug on his oar-locked heart
Mirroring your moves,
Old Salty, beware
Your grandson watches
what you share
Becoming his own man of the sea.
And he will be strong
and happy as you
If he finds
his sea-woman true
To share this salt and sweet life.

Donna JT Smith, 2013

I should be writing about my trip and my grandson...but I guess in some respects I am. I started this poem a while ago, finished it, and then reworked it into this rhyming format, which I finished today. Though not men of the sea where I'm visiting  in Pennsylvania, the plot is still the same.