Sink or Swim

He quipped
Two best days
For boat owners
When you buy
When you sell
Like pal Paul who
Had a windfall
First a motorcycle
Then a speedboat
Sitting on top
Of the world
Until engine ignited
Sank in Quincy harbor
Poor man’s Valhalla
Viking funeral
All of his
Hope and dreams
Sank like a stone
Dad had first
His Steelcraft
Rusted hulk
Up and down
The Charles River
Then Cutty Sark
Named for prior owner's
Booze cruises
Sleek Chri-Craft
To match his Cadillacs
Always a convertible
Some thirty five feet
Chrome and teak
My job to swab
KId as his gob
Once or twice around
Cape Ann more often
To the lighthouse and back
Through the treacherous
Cut bridge to
Gloucester harbor
Our neighbors
Snowbirds until
The storms got crazy
Those long drives
She loved fishing
He complained
About the money
Wads of bills
Stacks of cash
Would rather be
In his studio
Or making music
Worth every penny
She chimed in
Winters of heaven
Out in the bay
Or up Alligator Creek
Nothing like
Fresh fish on the grill
The daily catch
We get ours at Big Y