DORY

Even beached, it reeks

of the deep Atlantic.

Resting on the rocky shore

but feet above the dark

demarcation of high tide,

it basks in sea-like hues

of blackish green and blue. 

Its bottom is flat

for ballast, wide planks

fastened lengthwise

from bow to stern,

never steam bent,

sawn to the natural

curve defining its shape.

Its prow is high

and proud; its stern

the solemn “tombstone.”

It basks in the sun:

ominously green and blue;

at home in any weather;

deceptively strong;

and sans a whit of frill,

exactly what the sea,

if wood, would be. 

Larry D. Thomas, a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and the 2008 Texas Poet Laureate, retired in 1998 from a thirty-one year career in social service and adult criminal justice, and he has since that time published thirteen collections of poems.  His most recent collection, The Skin of Light, was released by Dalton Publishing, and A Murder of Crows is forthcoming from the Virtual Artists Collective in 2011.  Among the numerous prizes and awards he has received for his poetry are the 2004 Violet Crown Award from the Writers’ League of Texas, the 2003 Western Heritage Award, two Texas Review Poetry Prizes, and a grant from The Ron Stone Foundation for the Enhancement and Study of Texas History.