the harbor becomes the sea
December 3rd, 2007 by pww
contain the wave
track it
try
the harbor becomes the sea
the water. its place defined
not by its being or quality
by its opposite — its eternal jacob
building nations, failing states
boundaries, borders — ink on paper
drawn by strong, young hands and a revolutionary mind
sketched by an agéd, shaky hand; interests and mandates
erasable ink, populations as pawns
the tides and their inhabitants
sometimes pounding the shores
and at others, coursing
returning to unknown depths
oblivious to the bobbing bouy
thoughts from a line in Feist’s The Water
Popularity: 13% [?]
December 3rd, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Did you write this, or is it all a quote from Feist?
What does “eternal Jacob” mean?
December 3rd, 2007 at 2:15 pm
the line from Feist is, “the harbor becomes the sea,” from the song “the water.” i reference both. the rest is mine. what initially caught my mind was the question, “where would you draw the line between what is the harbor and what is the sea?”
the character, Jacob, taken from the biblical account, means “the supplanter,” “the contender” and “he who wrestles with God.” from his time of birth, he contended with his brother, Esau. and throughout his life he is an opposer, to the extent that one night he encounters God and proceeds to wrestle with Him.
when thinking of water, or more specifically, the sea, what opposes it, hems it in, clashes with it? land. that is the answer.
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Nice work. I like it. Eternal Jacob - a vivid picture of a never-ending struggle or tension. Unseen currents also create tension, further away from land where man doesn’t always notice. I like how you’ve used the image of harbor and sea here to describe something quite unrelated, yet similar in many ways.
December 3rd, 2007 at 8:56 pm
Nice. I think this is the first poem of yours I’ve ever read. I didn’t know you wrote poetry–must have been those two months in Advanced Writing. I like it.
Two things about it strike me:
-lovely use of alliteration
-the image “populations as pawns”
One question: why is it filed under “prose”?
December 12th, 2007 at 9:52 am
i don’t purport to have any analysis:)
i am just like wow, i don’t believe!
“interests and mandates
erasable ink, populations as pawns” struck me - motivations, the heart is deceitful, power often corrupts…
i could go on, but anyway i try and look for buoy…and not forget!
December 14th, 2007 at 12:31 am
After absorbing this three times now, I think it will continue to provoke thought every time I see it. Thank you for sharing.