I Always Sit at Starboard

I always sit at Starboard:
I always sit at starboard when I am out at sea,
My beard curled with salt and sunbeaten inky skin.
Who is the guy in Greek mythology? Odysseus that’s him.
Who went twenty years around the world, almost falling off the rim.

But these sailor tattoos don’t mean too much,
because I’m hard to look at but soft to touch,
constantly getting love confused with lust.
I always sit at starboard when I am out at sea.
My white whale is mystery and he who knows his history

should touch her up with truth.

Do lots of maths and eat pudding, the only way to find a proof.

Katmandu is full of colours and
here and there you
find
a
n
o
t
h
e
r

family, one full of brothers, sisters, mothers,
As we turn the rudder in my brain again.
I always sit at starboard when I am out at sea.
Heavy metal boys, shave your head and wear a dress;
Heavy metal boys, drink lead and make a mess;
Heavy metal boys, change gender, go on a bender;
Heavy metal boys, pick up a song, write a fender.
Instead, go float on a boat, you’ll find it is easy;
Please come float on a boat with me.
But just remember you have to sit portside (you see)
I always sit at starboard when I am out at sea.

Out beyond where the sinking sun spills over the horizon and Santiago’s boat battles
through the waves in pursuit of the great merlin, his fingers numb and his hair grey;
west west my boy, where the whales turn towards the dying light and Ahab’s eternal
quest draws him on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on in
pursuit. Through the pillars and onwards, beyond and into the great nothingness

between stars and sea.

Cavernous depths open below us, nothing but the skies above us, the wind tattoos
wonder into our broken bodies, onwards and upwards into the shrinking idea of
freedom, but just for tonight, just for this very moment, how fine the sky looks at

starboard.

– Asa Williams

Franco-British PhD student, poet and musician. Interested in the natural world, folklore and creation myths.