NAPOWRIMO #30

Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Prompt #30 - Free Day (and Farewell)

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THE EDGE of the WORLD
(POEM STARTING with a LINE from FLANNERY O'CONNOR)

Everywhere he went he picked up more tattoos.
The only problem was the ink poured through his fingers
as he slapped them against his dark skin
trying to mark himself with a memento
of the ports that he had visited.

This was his final voyage for he could hear
the roar of seawater cascading into the great cataract
that loomed ahead, a rupture between ocean and sky.

He would have sewn it together again,
but he lacked an adequate needle and thread,
and, more importantly, he lacked the courage
to repair it, considering this sailing one of destiny.

The White Whale drifted in the void, breaching,
breaking through strands of nebulaic gases,
disappearing back into the core of stars
as the skin of hydrogen and helium rippled
over the fathoms of molten heavy metals.

The White Whale blinked on and off,
pulsing out messages of rhythmic information,
a new constellation in the night sky.

He reminded himself this had all been seen before:
if you doubt, then look up at the star-filled night sky
and wait, patiently, and then wait some more

whereupon you will see a flash of harpoon as it strikes
white leathery hide, hits its mark,
as the line is drawn out into the ether
racing, racing, into the depths of interstellar dark.

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The line is from Flannery O'Connor's short story "Parker's Back."