Tom Wisner, Bard of the Chesapeake

I have only just now learned that Tom Wisner, the Bard of the Chesapeake Bay has passed away. Daddy Art, that is to say, Captain Art Daniels delivered the eulogy.

It is always sad to see a piece of the Chesapeake's history and culture pass away, but I am sadder still that this is old news and I have only just now heard it. That's what comes of committing the disloyalty of spending my year on the Delaware side of the world, crewing the Kalmar Nyckel and her boat, the Little Key. I have never been homesick for any place in the world, but I am surely homesick for skipjacks. Finding out that I missed something important has made me miss the Chesapeake even more.

Tom used to go around to festivals on the Chesapeake Bay and I saw him perform a few years ago at the Havre de Grace Maritime Museum, if memory serves me correctly. I was also thinking I would see him again, because Erik Spangler is composing a 'Watershed Sound Poem' that includes some of my poetry from Heron Sea along with some of Tom's work and other local artists and sounds. Watershed Sound Poem has an estimated time of arrival next spring. I am hoping to be able to attend its performance, which will be even more poignant if it includes Tom's work.

In Japanese aesthetics there is a quality called 'aware', pronounced ah-wah-ray, which is translated as 'the pity of things,' or an awareness of the perishable of the world. I encountered this Japanese aesthetic principle as a teenager, thanks to the Japanese exchange student we had, and was immediately and deeply immersed in Japanophilia for several decades. 'Aware' impressed me deeply and has provided me with a melancholy but not depressing way to view the world and to prize its fragile beauty. It also introduced me to the classical tanka of the Kokinshu and Shinkokinshu eras -- when I was homeless, Carter's Traditional Japanese Poetry was one of the items I managed to retain possession of.

It was not until many years later that I wrote tanka and found in the 'aware' of Japan a way of viewing the world that was a perfect match for the fragile beauty of the Chesapeake. There is a numinous quality in both tanka and the Chesapeake, so it would not surprise me if some Japanese pilgrim erected a Shinto gate in the shallow waters of the bay. It would have to be painted blue if they did, because blue is the traditional color for offerings given to the god of the Chesapeake by the Indians who lived here. Boats are never painted blue here because if you do, the god of the Chesapeake will accept the gift and pull it under.

I am currently serving aboard a big blue ship, the Kalmar Nyckel, a reproduction of a 17th century vessel that was used to bring Swedish settlers to the Delaware Bay. When I have been aboard her going along the Chesapeake Bay, I often reflect on these matters, and I expect I will reflect again when she goes to the Chestertown Downrigging Weekend. Chestertown, Maryland, was the site of the Chestertown Tea Party during the American Revolution, and there is nothing more beautiful that a dozen or more historic and wooden ships and boats cozy together as October ends with a crazy Halloween party.

I keep

the ship's cat

company

at three am

on a Cape Cod night

I am glad to be home again.

~K~

The Adventures of Timmynocky the Sailor Cat, a true story

Those of you have visited my website at picasaweb.com/kujakupoet will familiar with Timmynocky, the junior of our two cats here on the Kalmar Nyckel. We are here at Harborfest in Norfolk, Virginia, so if you are, stop by, ship visition is noon to 1730. But I digress.

Timmynocky is normally allowed to roam free when we are in port. He knows how t find his home and returns for food, which is provided to the cats only at regular scheduled times so we can secure them when it'stime to leave. Timmynocky was allowed off his leash and went ashore Thursday night. I was last watch of the night and stayed up a whle on account of teh heat. Timmy returned about midnight in the company f two beautiful young blonde women. They were very concerned about his welfare. They found him a mile and a half a y, caught him, and called the number on his name tag. That is the ship's office number, which is not o at midnight. TImmy escaped them, and they went in pursuit with the intent to take him to a shelter.

For two hours they pursed the cat. He eventually arrived back at the ship, jumped inthrough the gunport, and disappeared in a huff. I could tell he was annoyed. The young women then told me about what a great cat he is an how worried they were for him, etc. They told me about his capture and escape, and grabbign teh fronts of their blouses, pulled them around and showed me how he can left his pawprints all over them. Now I happen to be gay, but I am not blind, and the actions of shapely young women flapping their shirts nad drawing attention to the way TImmy had his paws all over their breasts is one of those memorable moments in a sailor's life. I was thinking to myself that the straight male members of the crew would be envying the cat. I excerted my self control and remained politely bland and appreciatve of their concern for the cat.

Next day captain put Timmy into his harnes in addition to his callor and made a new tag. A ship's business card with the ship's cell p[hone number and an explanation off who and what he was, beginning with the words, "I am not lost," was affixed. Next day, I was the recipient when a rather handsome pirate from the pirate tavern courteously returned the cat, even though he had only been thirty feet from the ship. Apparently, "I am not lost" and "I belong to the ship right in front of you" is not sufficient. Once again I thanked Timmy's rescuer, and privately told him appreciated his consideration in bring home a suitable man. However, it was a public festival so I was obliged to express my thanks to the hansome pirate in the customary way.

Friday night Timmy once again appeared with a beautiful young woman on his arm. I was visiting the Godspeed that evening, and looking over the rail, I saw a woman with Tim in her arms going by, so went ashore and received him. This time, Timmy was in trouble with the law. The Nofolk police had apprehended him and explained to her that pets were not allowed at the festival, and that all pets had to be leashed and harnessed. They said if he was picked up again he was going to jail. I mean, Animal Control would take him to a shelter. So this young lady wwalking the waterfront looking for his ship. I received Timmy back, thanked her, and carried hiim homde.

we were far along the waterfront and Timmy was purring up a storm and totally relaxed in my arms. You could tell he was w pleased with himself and thoroughly enjoying his run ashore. Once we came within sight of the Kalmar Nyckel he tensed up and began to resist. I shanghaied the cat and brought him aboard against his will. He had a few words of cat profanity for me as he was brought before the officer of the watch. The officer of the watch was not inclined to humor the shore police, and asked if they were harbor patrol or regular police. I reported that I didn't know, but they had side arms. Reluctantly the mate curtailed Timmy's shore leave.

Timmy was confined to the brig by being leashed and secured to the ship. He was in a royal sulk and gave me and the mate the "you-effing-traitor" look. The mate apologized profusely to him. "Sorry, dude, but it cost a hunred bucks the last time we had to bail you out."

Is this cat a true sailor, or wh? He goes ashore, picks up women, gets busted by the police, and thrown in the brig. He has a more exciting life than the rest of the crew combined.

~K~

Posted while aboard S/V Kalmar Nyckel

Photos and Images at Picasa

I do not have a camera, but I have occasionally been able to borrow one or con somebody into taking pix for me. They are now posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/kujakupoet.

You will want to check out the Kalmar Nyckel - Snowmageddon images in particular, taken during snow duty this February at the ship. Sadly, the battery died, so most of the exterior images did not survive, but there's several good shots of the great cabin, belay furniture, carvings, and other items of interest.

~K~

Going to Sea

I haven't written here lately. I've been swamped with work, recovering from surgery, moving house, and various literary projects. However, I've made a big decision: I'm quitting my job at Wal-mart and going to be a substitute teacher while I look for permanent work. That will give me my weekends and evenings back, which I plan to use to volunteer with the tall ship, Kalmar Nyckel.

I have been accepted as a volunteer and tentatively accepted for sail training. Assuming I can afford it, I'll be taking the summer off to crew on the Kalmar Nyckel. I'm very excited and looking forward to it, I can tell you that!

Meanwhile, January will be devoted to finishing Atlas Poetica : A Journal of Poetry of Place in Modern English Tanka (5) with the kind help of Alex von Vaupel's technical assistance. It will appear in March. I will also be finishing Take Five : Best Contemporary Tanka, Vol. 2, which will appear in print in April.

I have also decided to put the Pirates of the Narrow Seas novels into print via a self-publishing POD arrangement; I need cover art, but otherwise PoNS 1 is mostly laid out.

In short, I'm going to be very busy in a good way. The downside is that I won't have much money, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices to do the things you want to do. The choice is between being poor and happy and poor and unhappy, so the decision is pretty simple. Since Wal-mart has changed its insurance to be so bad, the difference between having insurance and not having insurance isn't that great. It will only matter in the event of a catastrophe. Here's hoping for no catastrophes, eh?

I am also looking for a laptop or tablet computer that I can do serious writing on, access the Internet, do email while aboard the ship. It needs long battery life and to be rugged enough to survive conditions at sea -- saltwater humidity is notoriously bad for electronics. Preferably a Mac (looking forward to seeing what the new Mac tablet looks like). We stick to the coast so a cell phone link as opposed to a satellite link is probably sufficient, although I might look into the satellite cost for the summer only.

Looking back on my sailing career, I have only crewed on wooden boats. I have been a passenger on a few other vessels, but I'm probably one of the last people in the world that learned to sail on a wooden workboat. The Kalmar Nyckel sail training program is well-regarded, and graduates of the program work on a variety of other tall ships. With a little luck, perhaps I will be able to change my career to tall ship sailor. If so, I will be able to make a living writing poetry and sailing old wooden vessels. Wouldn't that be a dream come true?