Poetry: Diving into the Wreck

...

the evidence of damage

worn by salt and sway into this threadbare beauty

the ribs of the disaster

curving their assertion

among the tentative haunters. (52-70)

The speaker talks about coming for the wreck and not the story of the wreck, the thing itself and not the myth. The speaker wants to see the wreck for what it actually is, not a made up story. The ribs personify the wreck to add to the human tragedy.

The ocean provides depth for the diver. As you start out remembering a certain event it starts out fine but then as you go deeper and deeper it can become darker. “First the air is blue and then/it is bluer and then green and then/black I am blacking out and yet” (34-36). As the speaker goes into this memory the water slowly is getting darker until it is black. Then the speaker reaches the wreck.

The objects found in the wreck show behind the debris that a wreck or disaster will leave behind. And after an event like the wreck the objects or us are not the same.

we are the half-destroyed instruments

that once held to a course

the water-eaten log

the fouled compass (83-86).

These objects had a purpose one time and were valuable to the navigation of the ship, but now that it is wrecked these objects are destroyed and have no value now. After an event in our life things around us change and nothing will be exactly the same, whether it’s the people around us or the path we are on in life.

All of these tools and observations aid the speaker in this trip into this memory. The three key ones that stick out to me are the knife, camera, and book of myths. The book of myths is the story but it isn’t factual and is just myths. The camera shows the events for what they really are and show nothing but the facts. The knife is able to protect you from the danger and help you get rid of any unwanted memories that may linger with you.

...