Yo-ho-ho

   
Inked all over    
and crustier    
than a nickel's worth of sin    
the roughie-toughie sailor    
recalled how lust felt    
as he soused his beard    
with a grin    
   
Spitting into the wind    
held no fear    
though he had learned    
whatever you dispatch    
too hastily into this world    
might always return    
consequentially    
   
Neither was he afraid    
of the moon    
glistening paler    
than whorehouse thighs    
striding from the ocean    
like a sickle of cheese    
caressing the Chesapeake    
to guide him safely home    
   
Hadn't he buried his head    
in both--    
though she    
had rode him all night    
until he foamed at the mouth    
while the bed-springs    
screamed mercy    
and the wind    
tore strips from his soul    
only relenting at dawn    
to rub salt in wounded pride    
and slip away with barely a word    
   
He wondered now    
at the fury of it all    
her long red tresses    
tangled like kelp    
over nipples harder than a reef    
Her fire of green eyes    
devouring the ache of a long voyage    
crumpled stockings    
trading his manhood for dust    
   
And though he could picture    
his salty fingers hauling greedily    
for the star of her ass    
hear her moaning in his head    
as he spread and slapped    
while the musky scent of mother earth    
bamboozled the rigging of his heart    
even with the strongest coffee    
he could not remember her name    
so perhaps she never told him    
or with senses overwhelmed
he was simply too drunk    
to care