At the
entrance to an exhibition:
Is it worth seeing?
It is. It is worth seeing.
(subvocalization
through the exhibition):
My name is Titanic, Ship of Ships…
Three days into the Atlantic,
Squinting into the glinting night
The lookouts shout, “Ice Ice!”
The ship glides on
Ripping its skin on a massive ice knife.
Years later its hull is found,
Near it on the seabed sand
Lie scraps and shards;
Over time rusticles will devour the hulk.
Nothing will remain
Of that tiny wreck.
Among the artifacts are a headline:
Unsinkable Titanic.
_______________
Voice-over
Apologies to Percy Bysshe Shelley.
The syllable count in his sonnet was more
accurate than this.
The irony in Shelley’s Ozymandias is in
arrogant ego.
The irony in Titanic’s demise is in ferrous
design flaw.
All rulers disappear into dust.
All ships eventually sink somewhere.
As did Shelley’s Ariel.
…
