Land of Cockaigne

Ed Ochester's poems have a colloquial immediacy and sparking wit that appeal to a wider readership than most mainstream verse.

Say Hello to the Ocean for Me

Tell her I remember her true name:
Thalassa. Tell her how dessicated I am.
Tell her I'm dreaming of squid
and the rich bed of the pearly oyster.
Tell her I'm goofy for her
as I always have been,
tell her again how much
I love to float with
a giant cigar smoking
like a tiny Titanic.
Tell her I remember
the green abd blue silks
of the Gulf Stream,
and the iron waves
off Rockaway where
I was born, where
even now the aged
and the infirm,
Thalassa,
walk through the whispering
fans of foam
to watch a freighter
sail off the horizon
and, Thalassa,
they wade in deeper
on their stilt legs,
peer at the cumuli forming--
to them it's just clouds--
and the weightless gulls
and wonderful their bodies
lighter and lighter

Ed Ochester, author of eleven books of poetry, has edited The Living Poem: American Poetry Now and The Pittsburgh Book of Contemporary American Poetry. Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Pittsburgh, a member of the Core Faculty of the Bennington MFA Writing Seminars, and past-president of Associated Writing Programs, Ochester is also the editor of the University of Pittsburgh Press Poetry Series.