10 May 2025

By Philip Kuepper

The face of the native boatman
looked with innate knowingness
as he looked up at
the multi-tiered ocean liner
from his animal skin and reed boat,
an ocean liner that had cruised
across half the world’s ocean,
to make port at the cost
of thousands of dollars per passenger,
to experience for just half a day,
what the boatman experiences,
for free, everyday,
just outside his front door.

(26 March 2025)