Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Rhymes of Two Ancient Mariners . . . (cont.)

.
.
Planks were peeling off
Colors once bright fading
Paint was stained by rust . . .
.

























.
An anchor slowly rusting with its chain
While flowers sprouting on the deck
Broke into bloom . . .
.

























.
Tired old ropes with half hearted hitches
Held the two together, barely . . .
.

























.
One could almost imagine standing spread legged on the deck
As the bow broke through, plowed through towering waves . . .
.

























.
This was no five star hotel
The comfort cabin for man's most basic needs
Was a simple affair
Now fallen into disrepair . . .
.










































.
And heaven help the curious soul
Who would look at the dark innards
Of the ancient mariner
Long rotting from years of hard drink
Assisted by a flash of light
Casting harsh rays into the belly of the machine . . .
.

























.
.
Immatriculations MX 195135 & MX 430050
.

13 comments:

Steve said...

Really love the chalky reds and blues in these shots... can almost feel the sun on my back and the salt in my hair...

Anonymous said...

A wonderful story in verse and images.

Loulou said...

Hi my dear Owen!
It seems that you're back, for sure! Was late at coming here, pretty busy these past few days....
I love rust and old painting traces... It has certainly less success than sea, birds and large beaches (cf previous post), but to me those pics mean a lot and are precious.

Take care, bises
Loulou

Harry 'aka' Mojo said...

Hey Owen..I LOVE THE COLOR OF RUST!
When I paint on canvas..it is truly one I strive to copy among all the other colors ..BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS !
Cheers Friend!
Mojo

Karen said...

Abandoned boats. So sad yet inevitable. The great demand for fish and the overfishing become like a great pyramid scheme and brings it's own demise.
So sad but the rusting hulks are beautiful in their ruin and perhaps reminders of our greed and lack of foresight.
I love your accompanying poem.

Sar@h said...

Vous êtes monté à bord ! Je n'ai jamais osé le faire … Bon, nous n'avons pas la même masse corporelle.
Joli tableau électrique.
C'étaient des caseyeurs, il me semble que l'un d'eux appartenait à l'oncle d'une employée du Crédit Maritime.

The Sagittarian said...

Yup, Neil was right - rust never sleeps.

Anonymous said...

Too good for words.

A deep bow from me in respect of your writing and photography.

Lynne with an e said...

Huzzah. We are not worthy.

Owen said...

Steve, the salt in your hair is from the wild night last night at the bar where pitchers of Margaritas were being served, with salted glasses and slices of lime... remember ??? The salt was flying... then you were just dreaming it was salt spray... and you kept muttering about running off to join the pirates, ahoy, thar she blows, you said...
:-D

=======

designslinger, (as opposed to Singapore Slinger... or one who drinks said drink) Thank you !

=======

Ah Loulou, I couldn't stay away for long, and with boats like these two, we'll all be able to sail off in search of other beaches, lost beaches where birds are plentiful and homo sapiens scarce... I know you love old rust and textured paint... these were partly for you... Texture with a capital T... J'espere que le voyage était fabuleuse, je m'en doute que tu étais legèrement occupée... bises à vous tous !

=======

Hi Harry, rust is a favorite subject for me too, and the colors, the textures it creates drive me wild... can't get enough... hope you'll post some rusty paintings then...

=======

Karen, yeah, a tremendous Ponzi scheme, grow big and strong eating plenty of fish, to reproduce multiple times over, to create more fish eaters... and so on, until one day... oooppps, no more fish... then it starts to implode... in any case, hopefully we will wake up before it is too late... thanks so much...

=========

Bonjour Sar@h, effectivement, la tentation était trop forte, je ne sais pas si cela me fait un hors la loi, un pirate, mais il n'y avait pas de panneau non plus disant de ne pas monter, et ces bateaux sont tellement clairement à l'abandon que je ne pouvais pas résister... en fait, c'était le jour où l'on a parlé au téléphone, et je partais après la petite aventure à bord ces deux dinosaures de la mer... ah, donc, des caseyeurs... avec capacité pour pas mal de cases... merci d'être passée, je me demandais si tu allais voir ce petit reportage...

=======

Dear Saj, heh heh, rust never sleeps, it just weeps... and reaps...

=======

Dear Robert, I'm not sure if you did it intentionally, but I do believe you've just done a very fine pun... ! A deep bow, indeed... a "bow" being the front end of a boat... thank you good sir !

========

Ah Mad Lynne, of course you are all worthy... it is all for you... no one is worthier...
:-D

Unknown said...

Ah, yes… I've never done any maritime exploring! I guess that instead of Urbex, this would be Maritex. Or somethin' like that. ;) Great stuff, thanks for sharing.

In addition to be a sucker for abandonment like this, I'm also a sucker for Samuel T. Coleridge. So a doubled-up cheers to you for this one…

Roxana said...

oh, how wonderful colours, i feel time passing through me... right now i don't want to be the ancient mariner, not even the boat, but this patient embrace of amber rust...

Owen said...

Roxana,
I've been rusting, and needed some oil poured on my finger joints to loosen them up to allow them to type a response to you here... can't get much slower than two weeks later... but rust is patient, and I'm sure the amber embrace of rust is very patient indeed... may we all rust gracefully in the amber embrace of time slipping silently by...

========

Tom, then I am doubly touched...

And yes, there must be a name for the maritime decay domain, maritex, or "dilapidated decks", shorted to "dilapidex" ? Anyway, sorry for being so slow, I got lost down in the hold of this ship, which was larger than it appears from the exterior, and took a while to find my way back out...