Hymn to the Sea

I entered this in a competition, and, surprise surprise, it didn't win. So here it is:

O, sea! Seat of my soul's

deepest repose.
Infinite memory lives in your

boundless body.
Home and homeless, you call me

ever back, O sea,
and bend me to your self.
Guileless lover, you keep me in your

heartless heart.
No respecter of station, you bear me up

on savage hands,
a queen.
Swallow me whole, O sea, and take me

to your depthless deep.
Your froth and foam console me, sea,

your icy waves my rest.
Wrap your briny fingers about my ankles,

unseat me, sea,
and pull me to your bosom.
Endless, ageless, king, what torment

writhes beneath you.
Careless of uncouth men, you kill,
unconcerned and unconfined,
but timeless, onwards flow.
Rage as you will, O peerless sea, but still

you make my chaos still.

Trick

I've been experimenting recently with layout, and how it can change the way a poem is read: it can completely alter the tone, cadence and feel of it, and I really enjoy that idea. Below is a very quick poem, entitled Trick, which is an example of this experimentation, plus a (slightly rubbish) recording of how it should be read. I'd do another video, but I'm running solely on caffeine right now and I'm not fit to be seen.

I’ve learned the

trick

of you.

I’ve mastered it,

there’s nothing

to it. I know

all there is to know.

You thought me

so unfit, but

I’ve got you

beat, my friend,

Because I’ve found

the steps

ahead of steps

The way to make it

work

The lines between

lines

The empty whiteness

of blank

chasms, opened

For the filling

with words

You imagine I might have

said. That

is the trick,

I know, to fool you

into faith. Oh,

what have I done,

You’ll say, but unshakeable

now,

I’m in those spaces. That’s

the trick, and unshakeable

now

You’re full of me.