At sea at night
we smell hulking ships
miles before
we see their lights.
Are they coming or going?
Will they cross our path?
Green and red and white
dance against the black
while rushing velvet water
against the hull, slaps.
Radar screen
glowing green
offers little support
and radio silence
fails to report.
I grab the mouthpiece
to hail the captain,
across the airwaves I repeat:
“This is SV Fellowship
northbound vessel to your starboard.”
Silence.
“Do you see us?”
Silence.
“Do you copy?
Over …”
We sleep in our life vests at night
because the ocean is a serious thing
and there is a reason why
I avoid rollercoasters.
Bedtime stories at sunset offshore
Lupita Eyde-Tucker is a bilingual poet and translator raised in New Jersey and Guayaquil, Ecuador. She is the winner of the 2021 Unbound Book Festival Emerging Poet Award, the 2019 Betty Gabehart Prize, and in 2018 was selected as an AWP Writer to Writer Mentee by poet Maggie Smith. In 2022 her poetry manuscript, "Eucalyptus," was a finalist for the Andrés Montoya Prize from Letras Latinas. The manuscript explores her Sephardic Jewish ancestry and bi-cultural heritage.
Not Enough Poetry 
Beautiful photo. I envy your situation. The ocean, children and a story. This is real paradise. Thank you for sharing the excellent poetry.
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Thanks John! So glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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Very nice, and I can feel the fear expressed within. Thank you for participating!
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Yes, I feel this – the reality of the situation, the vulnerability…
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oh my. hoping all ends well. The ocean scares me, don’t think I could ever spend the night there. Your imagery is strong.
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Hi Sheila! Thanks for stopping by 🙂 Yes, it ended well, thankfully.
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It must be quite an adventure….sleeping at night at sea, being rocked by the waves!
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Never slept at sea before but I think it would be difficult. Honestly just reading this freaked me out a little.
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I can feel this.. sailing .. sleeping at sea. All those big boats.. Nowadays I don’t sail any longer (but I kayak)…
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Man, I can feel the tension, akin to last night’s showing of “Gravity,” the waiting… for the voice that may never come. The final click on rolllercoasters was pure genius. Thanks so mcu for this, Amy
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Thank you Amy! Glad you liked it, Lupita
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