Free Impact by Billeh Nickerson Page A

neck,
    Â 
    one by one, down the gangplank
    to the quay at Southampton
    Â 
    and in those moments convinced
    one of the stokers to accept employment
    Â 
    somewhere else, for even though
    his impending two-week contract paid well,
    Â 
    he learned long ago to always trust
    a mother’s instincts.
----
HER PASSENGERS
    American,
    Australian,
    Austro-Hungarian,
    Belgian,
    British,
    Bulgarian,
    Canadian,
    Chinese,
    Danish,
    Dutch,
    Finnish,
    French,
    German,
    Greek,
    Italian,
    Irish,
    Japanese,
    Mexican,
    Norwegian,
    Portugese,
    Russian,
    South African,
    Spanish,
    Swedish,
    Swiss,
    Syrian,
    Turkish,
    Uruguayan.
----
SELECTED PROVISIONS
    Fruits
    36,000 oranges
    36,000 apples
    16,000 lemons
    13,000 grapefruits
    1,000 lbs grapes
    Â 
    Vegetables
    40 tons potatoes
    7,000 heads of lettuce
    3,500 onions
    2,250 lbs fresh green peas
    800 bundles asparagus
    Â 
    Meats
    75,000 lbs beef
    25,000 lbs poultry and game
    11,000 lbs fresh fish
    7,500 lbs bacon and ham
    2,500 lbs sausages
    Â 
    Baking
    40,000 eggs
    10,000 lbs sugar
    6,000 lbs butter
    1,500 g fresh milk
    250 barrels flour
    Â 
    Tobacco
    8,000 cigars

----
CAPTAIN SMITH’S BEARD
    For many passengers,
    his well-groomed appearance
    solidified their trust,
    Â 
    as if his shaving precision
    somehow reflected
    his seamanship.
    Â 
    Young crewmen coveted his beard
    as if it were an achievement
    like the four stripes
    that adorned his sleeves
    and epaulettes.
    Â 
    They dreamed of the day
    their follicles could be let loose,
    a well-maintained field
    in a life so full of ocean.
    Â 
    Sometimes he’d recognize himself
    as a proud husband and father,
    a veteran of the Boer War,
    The White Star Line’s esteemed
    and decorated Captain,
    Â 
    while other times it seemed
    the young boy who left
    for a career at sea
    stared back from behind
    his white mask.
----
THE SWIMMING POOL
    Though most would not need to,
    some high-society ladies practiced
    their strokes each morning
    while servants stood poolside
    with long white towels, thick
    bathrobes with monogrammed pockets.
    Â 
    One third-class passenger figured
    the twenty-five cents admission
    an investment, a story he could tell for drinks—
    the one about how he swam aboard the Titanic ,
    dove six feet under to the bottom,
    and stared up at the world’s richest women
    as their coloured bathing caps
    kept their hair dry and smiles intact.
----
THE FOURTH SMOKESTACK
    Most admirers had no clue
    its epic verticality had little purpose
    other than aesthetic.
    In postcards and posters,
    artists depicted huge plumes,
    though the only smoke
    came from First Class
    in the smoking room
    for which it served as ventilation.
----
THE DISTANCE POOL
    As if the ship were a newborn
    bet on by loved ones
    trying to guess her weight,
    Â 
    passengers placed bets
    on distance travelled,
    and at noon each day
    Â 
    they’d congregate,
    wait for the purser
    to announce
    Â 
    just how far they had gone
    and who among them
    won the jackpot.
----
THE IMPENDING DOG SHOW
    Harry Anderson’s fifty-dollar Chow
    Â 
    Robert W Daniel’s champion French Bulldog,
Gamon de Pycombe
    Â 
    John Jacob Astor’s Airedale, Kitty
    Â 
    Helen Bishop’s Frou Frou
    Â 
    Miss Margaret Hays’ Pomeranian
    Â 
    Elizabeth Rothschild’s Pomeranian
    Â 
    William Ernest Carter’s King Charles Spaniel
    Â 
    Henry Sleeper Harper’s Pekingese, Sun Yat Sen
    Â 
----
A YOUNG BOY'S SPINNING TOP
    In this picture, a young boy stands transfixed
    at the magic of a spinning top.
    Â 
    It doesn’t matter that he walks
    on the deck of the world’s largest ship
    Â 
    or that it’s a maiden voyage
    and everything is imbued with celebration,
    Â 
    for he’s full of wonder and intrigued
    at the constant spinning and spinning
    Â 
    as if his joy could be never-ending,
    the ship’s fate undetermined.

III. Impact
IMPACT
    One passenger believed it was her husband,
    the ship’s jolt just another expression