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A good day`s work
Posted: 31 July 2006
Word Count: 62
Summary: I was unexpectedly moved while watching BBC's 'Trawlermen' this evening. I buy too many King-sized prawns! YET... it thrills me that fishing is the last remaining activity where Man still hunts!
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and what if the sea
is so powerful
that it takes
this solid metal heavy
home to trawlermen
into its depths?
and what if this
little girl who kissed
her daddy goodbye
this morning
never sees him
again? Ever?
are King-sized
North Sea prawns
so vital to the life
of Westerners
like me? Is honest work
so vital to the family man?
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Comments by other Members
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 MarkT at 20:51 on 31 July 2006
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Hi! Great bit of work and after seeing the same program I know where you are
coming from.
However, I did get angry about the way they were hooving up the sea floor - it seems so wasteful and destructive.
Again, great piece, well written and though provoking.
mark
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 Okkervil at 10:23 on 01 August 2006
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Hey Joanie! Poems that start with 'and,' eh? This had, to my mind, a rather wry (occassionally insincere?) guilt to it that amused me all the time that I considered the issue raised. For instance, posed in a series of questions as it is, I got the feeling that the answer to
'are King-sized
North Sea prawns
so vital to the life
of Westerners
like me?'
was nevertheless
'maybe a little bit...'
Know what I mean? There's a humble self-awareness that is at the same time endearing and a little unashamed. That's a funny jumble of words, I know, but that's sort of how it left me! Like even after watching the show, even after having this horrendously human angle thrust upon you, you know you still might not be able to stop yourself next time they're on buy-one-get-one-free... The way your possibly-inescapable desire for prawns is pushed into proximity with a fisherman's inescapable need for work is at once tragic and ridiculous.
I did wonder if the comma after 'solid metal' tripped up the flow a little. Could you afford to drop it? But that doesn't affect it much, this is a fun, thought-provoking piece.
Toodles!
James
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 joanie at 10:36 on 01 August 2006
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James!! How on earth did you know that I have several bags of very large prawns in my freezer, all of them BOGOF!?
You are absolutely right about the comma - it's gone!
Many thanks for your comments. Hope you are enjoying your summer!
joanie
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 James Graham at 14:25 on 02 August 2006
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Joanie, I never cease to marvel at the way you can turn everyday stuff into poems. Something happens, you observe something in reality or on TV, and in next to no time you've put it into verse. But your poems aren't formless effusions or chopped-up diary entries, they're in good free verse, controlled and with good rhythm, each section (of 6 lines in this case) taking the poem forward. And you have a sure sense of the kind of subject that others will relate to. All this applies to many of your other poems as well as this one.
James.
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joanie at 14:58 on 02 August 2006
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Elsie, thank you. Thanks for the link; I spent quite a while browsing on there!
Joan
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Mac AM at 15:26 on 02 August 2006
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I like this very much Joanie. I think metal-heavy is wonderful. I agree whole-heartedly with James about your ability to conjure poems out of the ether.
I don’t like prawns, so I’m feeling kind of smug right now – but there must be hundreds of other things you can find in my cupboards which are just as bad.
Mac
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NinaLara at 23:13 on 07 August 2006
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I rather like the last question:
Is honest work
so vital to the family man? |
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There is much to ponder here about honesty and work and what we expect people to do and not to do ... and the complex issues that simply trying to do a day's work brings us up against.
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peardrops at 20:27 on 29 November 2006
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Hi Joanie
Had to respond to this interestingly whimsical reaction to this subject as I know these fishermen personally,living in the same seaside town.Loved the light but heartfelt touch of the poem's tone-makes the point clearly and effectively without elaborate labouring-cleverly casual -regards,Mariel
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joanie at 20:44 on 29 November 2006
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Mariel.... thanks for responding to this! That's really interesting. I'm so pleased to read your response. Thank you!
joanie
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