“Five dollars,” he tells the 24-hour store clerk.
He goes back to his car to put in the gas.
It is 5 a.m. He’ll start cutting ships at 5:30.
He used to be a jeweler. Now he is a ship breaker.
The gas is in. He leaves.
Stranded ships, cut into segments, await him.
Some have their huge guns, disarmed.
Cut well, ship breaker!
Wear your mask!
Stay clear of flying metal, sparks, and asbestos!
Cut and cut, and before, sail and shells on the seas ….
The stones of rings, strands … later, much later,
And his wife and three children, on the “other side,”
Always the “other side” ….
Eugene “Gene” Novogordsky, mid summer, 2011
