Alan Ross's Mess Deck

This poem is set on a warship in World War II. It doesn't follow all the rules, but it's irregular in line length. Poems called the sonic because they have to get everything into this tight structure. The bulkhead sweating and under naked bulbs,. men writing letters playing ludo. Hammock swing, nuzzling in tight like folds in flanks of mares. Bear shoulders glisten with oil tattoo marks rippling their scales on mermaids or girls thighs as dice are shaken cards played. So this is men of war at rest if you can ever be completely at rest when you're out at sea.