Bunya 100 poems 6, Rob Ferguson: Caribbean cruise, Kentia palm, Tarleton's Resurrection, Off key

Caribbean cruise we arrive at Fort lorder Dale and embark on our wedding anniversary treat the 55,000 ton Ms marsam nine days 11 nights five stars all inclusive floating Hotel sistership of the Amsterdam ndam ardam princ andam rdam r v and N affectionately in the trade as the dam ships Dutch Dam of course meaning Dam or Dyke and all 12200 of us passengers with our fingers at the ready to plug the ship sides should they be titanically breached by a stray Caribbean Iceberg we meet our dining companions the 88-year-old almost sharp as attack softly spoken Patrician ex- businessman Republican did I tell you I was Quarter Master General for North Africa during the war ah Casablanca alers and sweetly smiling graciously elegant Southern mint Jewel liip sipping on the porch companion both recently widowed and bubbling with dewy eyed handholding octogenarian romance and straight out of Central Casting the big tough singlet wearing ex police sergeant from Queens Brooklyn and the Bronx wy's genuine oils ain't oils accent and his invalid wife whom he cares for with heartwarming compassion we chat to others on the cruise and each conversation rolls down the same welln railroad track say what part of England you folks from well Australia actually Australia the eyes open and the jaws drop wow but that's so far away and The Young Person's variant wow that's so neat and after the eenth such exchange I broaden my crocodile down the accent to great effect say says a fellow passenger what language do y'all speak down there and little devil stirs inside me and I hear myself respond well we come from New South Wales you know so we speak Welsh uhhuh he nods a little extra ignorance never goes astray Ken a palm we'd always had two dogs company for each other both of us at work kids at school then suy died but Tweety still had the rabbit to chase around the big clar pink magnolia till one day bunny too left us she howls all the time our neighbors said then one morning in my my office I felt a matte soft muzzle nuzzle my elbow and thereafter the staff would daily Usher her into our rooftop garden where she'd snore gently under the kener Palm secure in the sure and certain knowledge that the inner NOS knows the presence of the master on playing talton's Resurrection by John darland dance Just A Dance cried good Queen Bess and more fool he dick Talton did till 1588 then wrote his will and forth with expired but no there is his ghost conversing with Robin Goodfellow Alias Puck all of a mid Summer's night and the Lous luminary John darland on hand to record his miraculous Resurrection in Melody plucking strings 430 history overflowing years ago and my fingers sing dum dum dum dum plink plink as how many thousands of fingers have while the world went on around them Cromwell had a civil war and tea got lost in Boston Captain Cook kept eyes on Venus and bony said no Josephine tonight I play the loot and in no time there's a man dancing on the moon and someone somewhere playfully touches the strings and old dick ton gests again when a butterfly flutters on the TS they say a cyclone devastates Darwin well think of all those air molecules dumbed dumbing around the world influencing other molecules ever since darland put quill to music parchment what if he double quavered and not crotcheted in the third bar might you be reading this in Bolivia off key it was our usual Open Mic all comers welcome some stage experienced others shower singing Only but all friends always Applause for pro performers and same for novice courage today no different he'd sung before but the nerves were clear too far from the mic and voice too soft if I Sing Down Low then I'll be safe but not the way it works I fear his first few notes so far off course and too afraid to start again or ask for help from a humming Chum so on he plows his Furrow deepening the band struggles to match his Tempo and we all trying to sing along but fail and one by one the hall fall silent all with him willing him on to find the key come on come on a semitone up you're nearly there the empathy visible physical faces Collective suffering into selfish selfless palpable prayer for