Ishmael's Concordance

Think, Ahab,
upon three last things:
world, water, whale.

Harpooners know,
sailors, hands—
Queequeg, Starbuck, Stubb.

See, Captain,
the long looks, far eyes
among day, night, sea.

The great Pequod,
once right, seems
small, still, old.

Aye, good Sir,
something soon parts:
a leg, a line, a life.

Oh, take the whole:
air, ship, time,
gods, men, white.

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Scott Wiggerman is an Albuquerque author with three books of poetry, Leaf and Beak: Sonnets, Presence, and Vegetables and Other Relationships; and the editor of several volumes, including Wingbeats: Exercises & Practice in Poetry I & II. He is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, and a frequent workshop instructor, especially in poetic form.