a body of written, spoken & visual poems honoring the spirit of the sea, our relationship with nature and the oldest international sporting trophy event that began in 1851
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as poet laureate of the Truce Foundation of the United States, created, curated and contributed around the "AC35" yacht races in Bermuda. dedicated to the island, islanders and competing sailors, the challengers, defenders and others. here is the dedication. and below, a cross-section of this one-of-a-kind cultural poetorial, led by "Racing," a piece also scored to original music.
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The Foundation's honoree poems, for the winner New Zealand, the US, Sweden, Japan, France, the UK and five others are the very last eleven in the collection here as you scroll through...
quel nautique © colin goedecke
Racing
Chariots
and boats.
Men and
women.
Hearts and
minds.
Clocks.
Rockets
to the moon.
But not
the sun.
Or clouds.
The seas
or seasons.
The making
of histories.
The unfolding
of known
and unknown
galaxies.
Colin Goedecke
June, 2017
harmonic emergence © colin goedecke
The Elements
Are here to connect us.
To the pure power
and wonder of Nature.
It’s presence.
Its miraculousness.
From the winds
to the rains,
the fiercest heat
to the wildest cold.
And to all
the purely elemental,
powerful, wonder-full
inside us.
Inside our bodies,
spirits,
imaginations.
The forces of outer
and inner nature
that challenge and
inspire us;
surround and
speak to us;
to every man,
woman and child
among us.
These Elements.
These firmaments
of contrast
and contest;
of past, present
and humbling,
ennobling energy.
Colin Goedecke
2017
rhapsody in blue, the inside passage, alaska © colin goedecke
Where Blue Meets Blue
Ephemeral,
still, indelible,
the water color
that lights out
from the surface
of this broad-day Bay.
Into the iris
of my ocean-going eye;
that for a while
becomes
more brilliantly blue.
As if enchanted
or refracting
a blue more rare
and pure.
As I sit back
on a sun-rayed terrace,
on a wind-raked terrace
on a hill
high above the source,
high above the view.
Colin Goedecke
Nonsuch Bay
Bermuda
inhaling the wind
Billowing
Clouds of course.
Constable's. Van Gogh's.
And tempest-tossed waves.
Buildings in flames
high over dalmatians' heads.
Wild west-crossing steam engines
sending up the pioneers’
smoke signals.
Curtains on a breeze-swept terrace.
The white sails of a schooner
singing downwind.
The imagination.
Billowing.
Colin Goedecke
Morristown, 2017
sunset floats in, monhegan island, maine © colin goedecke
Winslow H.
Winslow would have captured it
all: the last sun soaking
the bristled chests and tufted brows
of evergreen, the pure white wash
of light on the starboard side
of the anchored lobster boats;
the mauve and violet shadows
on the shingled surface: all
the watercolors of this ultramarine
world refracted in the strokes
of his sable brush.
from The Speed of Sight
Colin Goedecke
Sullivan
Maine
a man & the sea, egypt beach, east hampton, new york © colin goedecke
Early Autumn, Oceanside
The sole silhouette of a man,
silent, motionless,
before a brilliantined expanse
of running ocean,
a low flying gull,
a slow passing boat
on the near horizon.
Ribbons and threads of clouds
tiered with pale blue
then deeper blue sky.
Laces of water music,
caresses of cool seawind,
warm sand, on the skin.
Se(a)renity.
Colin Goedecke
on Egypt Beach
East Hampton,
New York
a boy sets sail © colin goedecke
The Old God & His Sailboat
He stands
half in sea
half in air,
a Neptune
making sport
with a small red boat.
Using a large bronze hand
to tend a course
on the now glinting waves.
He wonders
half wet
half dry,
why his god-like motions
have little effect.
How the wind has a will
of its own.
On this warm silver afternoon
in Tyrrhenia.
Colin Goedecke
Forte dei Marmi
Tuscany
seawave, atlantic coast © colin goedecke
Give Us This Day
Give us this day
our daily wind.
To fill our sails,
ruffle our curtains,
caress our faces.
Give us this day
our daily sun.
To light our way,
warm our mornings,
color our day’s ending.
Give us this day
our daily sea.
To voyage on,
gather our fish from,
refresh our bodies in.
This new day
of simply living
on the earth;
of breathing in
This Earth and
all its givings.
Give us this day
to openly, gladly
receive these gifts.
Colin Goedecke
Morristown, 2017
a jubilant coast © colin goedecke
A Sun-Baubled Sea
on John Marin’s watercolor painting Sunspots, Cape Split Maine 1920
Off the coarse point
of another time
an unfaded ocean
verges out in caps and crests
of cobalt, indigo, turquoise.
Past one small, bleach-sailed boat.
Toward a streaking sky,
where the sun becomes baubles
of chrome yellow, rose madder,
viridian and cerulean.
That float above the water-color
surface. That float inside
my water-colored eyes.
Colin Goedecke
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York City
she flies through the air © colin goedecke
The Meltemi / The Etisian Winds
They chap the indigo skin
of the sea.
Flirt with women's hair
and sailors' halyards.
Confound ferry captains.
Rush up and down ravines.
Cool the baking backs
of bare mountains.
Refresh the faces
of farmers in valleys,
silent beekeepers,
beachfront waiters.
Ruffle the ears
of wild rabbits,
the downy chests
of roving pheasants.
Blow low and dry
across the Aegean.
Fan the islands
north to south,
and the undraped shoulders
of a plein air poet
passing time
under the sun
and solitude
of Kea.
Colin Goedecke
on the island of Kea
in the Cyclades
Greece
hidden depths © colin goedecke
Holding Your Breath
for the humpback whales
You hold your breath,
have held your breath
for a thousand feet,
a thousand years down,
through black and blue
waters, blizzards, glaciers,
barnacles, harpooners.
Still surviving, still returning
to the surface.
Colin Goedecke
at anchor off The Brothers
Frederick Sound
Southeast Alaska
east ending, out on the south fork © colin goedecke
Sea Cycle
A man rides his bicycle
on the sea.
Salt rubs the tires.
Sun reflects on the soles
of his shoes
as he pedals
over starfish
and speckled crabs,
under seagulls
and threaded clouds,
past fishermen
and upright bathers.
Until the pier,
where he turns left
and follows the sun down
over the horizon.
from The Speed of Sight
Colin Goedecke
Forte dei Marmi
Tuscany
behold the ancient mariner © colin goedecke
Our Odysseys
No fingerprints of any
two Odysseuses alike.
Each of us with our own
epic to live and tell;
our own Ithacas
to seek, to journey to.
Our own wanderings
and concealments,
friendships and testings,
omens, demons;
passions, questions,
to contend with.
Along the wild,
Unknown Way.
Touched at times
by the graces,
sometimes caprices,
of greater and lesser gods
of the singular lands
and seas we wind up
traveling, traversing.
All the joyful
and painful passages,
encounters, vantages.
Offering each of us
one-of-a-kind chances
and choices,
egoic to heroic,
to see, to take, to make
at every turn.
Colin Goedecke
2017
gusmao's flight of fancy, his imagined airship, the passarola
Lighter than Air
a poem for the Passarola
Obrigado Gusmão,
for inventing,
and King John V
royally favoring,
an airship, your Passarola,
with its boat-like,
bird-like body
and spreading sail,
spreading wings, tail.
All propelled by
a curious agency of magnets.
Maybe inspired through reading
of ancient Kongming lanterns,
ascending as signals
in China’s Three Kingdoms.
Or by Da Vinci’s designs
for flying ships.
Or Cyrano de Bergerac’s fantasies.
Realized by those colorful brothers
Montgolfier. And that elegant,
fellow Portuguese aeronaut-
pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont.
Who flew solo and je ne sais qoui-ly
in stylish homemade hot air balloons
over the streets and hats of Paris.
Even round the Eiffel Tower.
Thank you for me and others
who openly or secretly share
a love of floating in all its forms;
of flying dreams.
Of feeling lighter than air.
The lift of whimsy and adventure.
The wonder of rising
from the earth
to converse with the clouds.
Colin Goedecke
2017
inside passagers, alaska © colin goedecke
Green Clouds
Green clouds
lie along the surface
of our coastal passage.
Clouds of conifers,
of Sitka spruce and cedar,
shore pine,
hemlock and alder.
That change shape by decades
instead of days;
by generations
of snow and light.
That share the shelter
of their deep-rooted solace
with the water,
the earth, the birds
and sometime-passing men.
Colin Goedecke
The Inside Passage
Southeast Alaska
reaching through time, bermuda © colin goedecke
Quo Fata Ferunt / Where the Fates Carry
for the island & islanders of Bermuda
Here the Fates
have been kind.
Have favored
monarchs and
mariners,
shipbuilders and
salt merchants,
cedars and
sea-planers.
Have carried
this island
and its islanders
through an ocean
of recorded and
unrecorded time,
salt-aired stories;
still unfolding
journeys.
Colin Goedecke
Bermuda
June, 2017
before the mast, portsmouth © colin goedecke
Learning to Swim
for Aotearoa & Its Team & the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
In the wind.
In the clouds,
long, white.
Above the water.
Beyond the land.
Through weather
and light,
time and wonder.
Colin Goedecke
Tucker's Point, Bermuda
June, 2017
walking on water, huntington beach © colin goedecke
Strength in Numbers
for the USA’s 17 & Its Team & the Golden Gate Yacht Club
Confederating
strengths that are prime,
natural, heartful.
Conjoining
energies, synergies,
possibilities.
Concording
to achieve something
far greater, far higher
as men,
women,
humans.
Colin Goedecke
Bermuda
June, 2017
south by southwest © colin goedecke
Into the Wild Blue Wonder
for Sweden’s Magic Blue & Its Team & the Royal Swedish Yacht Club
Off we go.
Into it all.
Flying
into the wilds
of life,
the earth.
Through blue
skies high and
wide. Flying
on the fuel
of wonder.
on the wings
of big dreams;
bottomless
desires.
Colin Goedecke
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
June, 2017
sailing through light & shadow, brooklyn © colin goedecke
Flashes
for Japan’s Hikari & Its Team & the Kansai Yacht Club
of sun -
light,
water -
light,
storm -
light.
Bolts
from
skies,
bodies,
countries.
Sparks
of
desire,
passion,
destiny.
Colin Goedecke
Bermuda
June, 2017
sol ex machina © colin goedecke
Together
for France’s Groupama & Its Team & the Yacht Club de France
Single hands
to all hands,
minds, hearts
meeting;
making history.
How a team,
land to sea,
ship or shore,
becomes
one stream,
one confluence
of intention
and action,
one poetry
in motion;
one living,
flowing
expression.
Colin Goedecke
June, 2017
out to sea, portsmouth © colin goedecke
Our Natural State
for the UK’s Rita & Its Team & the Royal Yacht Squadron Racing
From the moment
of birth.
From each point
of waking,
breathing.
Whether
competing or
contemplating.
We live in a state
of unending
creativity.
Of unsuspended
possibility.
Of unsurpassable
remarkability.
Colin Goedecke
June, 2017
sea-silvered, bermuda © colin goedecke
Seamounted
for America’s Cup Bermuda Ltd.
Mounted.
Submergently.
Volcanically.
Atlanticly.
By the western edge
of the Sargasso Sea.
Coral-pink jewel
in a sky-blue crown.
Home to
multicolored
history,
sailcloth’d
glory;
windswept,
sundialed
beauty.
Colin Goedecke
June, 2017
solarity, the mayan coast, mexico © colin goedecke
The Tropic of Cancer
for the Conquer Cancer Foundation
How curious to be in two
of these tropics at once:
one warm and wonderful,
the other dark and sorrowful.
Each world with its own terrain,
yet between them
a latitude and longitude
where flowers grow.
Colin Goedecke
Punta Bete
on the Yucatán Coast
Mexico
stillpoint © colin goedecke
On an Island
for the America’s Cup Race Management
The lapping lullaby of reef
is tranquility.
The daydreaming sky
is quietude.
The soft sweep of palms
is color.
The slanting morning sun
is contentment
here on a point
on a compass.
Colin Goedecke
June, 2017
in living color, bermuda © colin goedecke
I’ve Seen a Country That Floats on the Sea
for the America’s Cup Event Authority
I’ve seen a country
that floats
on the sea.
That’s royal blue
at night,
pale pink by day.
I’ve seen a country
that floats
on the sea.
Where mermaids
swim and
sailors dream.
Colin Goedecke
June, 2017
peace over the islands & mainlands of the earth © colin goedecke
The Times of Truce
for the Truce Foundation of the United States
When the blowing
winds cease.
When the swelling
seas settle down.
When the earth
enters a still point
near dawn,
near dusk.
Or the night skies
grow silent
with stars.
Whenever the world
of Nature
makes peace
with itself.
And Man
mirrors that
peace in himself;
gives free leave
to his fellow man.
These are the times
when rare and
graceful plumes of truce,
deep spirits of unity,
community
can be found and
greatly felt --
by everything living.
Be remembered and
honored --
by everyone,
young to old,
hearkening.
Colin Goedecke
Your Floating Poet & Poetorialist, en plein air & mer, in Bermuda, June, 2017 , around the 35th America's Cup races