This week’s poem, Nicole Chvatal’s “You’re a Real Mariner Now,” offers a deliciously non-romanticized view of the ocean and of romance. I love this poem’s vividly wry candor, its careening imagery and momentum, and the terrific final swerve of the last line and a half.

Chvatal writes property deeds and other witty things in Bath. Her work has appeared in Quarter After Eight, LEON Literary Review, Pilgrimage and other journals. She is a graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

Poets, please note that submissions to Deep Water are open through the end of the year. Deep Water is especially eager to share poems by Black writers, writers of color, Indigenous writers, LGBTQ+ writers, and other underrepresented voices. You’ll find a link to submit in the credits below.

You’re a Real Mariner Now
By Nicole Chvatal

From the car, the Atlantic is a blue passport cover.
But way out in the middle it’s a disco,
hard stomping plates of inhales, easily spun
into whorls of foam that catch the light
and shine it back onto my front,
unpredictable as a first date.
When it comes to love I’ve never felt ready
for the strike and travel of waves
spraying against my life jacket while I smile,
pretending to have a good time, holding onto
anything familiar in a death grip—grab
bar bolted into the stern, familiar songs
blaring from the classic rock station
of his speed boat—tipsy in cheap flip flops,
so not a sailor, so not a first mate as we gun
through the delta of the Sasanoa
and Kennebec toward the thrash
of open sapphire. Put me back
on land, firm ground, grassy knolls,
any field of gold that grows wildflowers,
so I can catch my breath. Still, it was unbelievably
hot when he told me, you’re a real mariner now.

Megan Grumbling is a poet and writer who lives in Portland. Deep Water: Maine Poems is produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. “You’re a Real Mariner Now,” copyright 2023 by Nicole Chvatal, appears by permission of the author. Submissions to Deep Water are open now and through the end of the year. For more information, go to mainewriters.org/deep-water.

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