Portraits of My Father at Sea

I.

His memory
drifted--

no, adrift
it went
forth in knots

labyrinthine
longitudes,
tidal shifts

spatial subtleties,
cardinal directions
imperceptible

particular fibers,
particles awash
filtered fast
spineless
shelled

his spirit
transient,
extant, yet
unclassifiable

separation in simple
terms, suggested
categorizations
for the discorporate

we must strictly
stick to stone--
stamp initials
dates, final
remarks

cremation an option
associations strong,
largely undesirable

so, his body 
was casked--
no, casketed
embalmed, emboxed

interred.

defined as 

one:
to place
(a dead body)
in a grave or
tomb; bury

or 

two:
Obsolete.
To put
into the earth.

II.

His memory
adrift, went

sank beneath
the turning
surface
swirling pools
oceanic passage

an image,
the vasty deep
perhaps where
horizon
meets
sea

slight curvature,
shape theories
concerned with
shifting horizons


astronomical
assertions of
spherical
orientations

his body, stationary then
carried east
on engines, wings

those steely
pallbearers

Smithfield, Virginia
directly
beneath the sun

genealogical proximity,
insights into
relations/personal 
tragedies,
beliefs.

III.

His memory
drifts,

drifting
the sea at
eighteen
for  months

left home,
to breathe salty air
to chew boiled meat, 
soft vegetables
in the mess

forks and knives
scraping
in time
a bell rings 
the hours

years later,
a tale about a man
with no teeth
but cafeterial
status

navigation principles
charted clusters
deceased, persistent
then rising 
landmasses off the abyss’
edge

boy of eighteen--
maybe nineteen,
no matter, awash
out about
the mighty ocean
tying knots,
raising sails
hardening skin
on upturned palms.