A Maritime Vocabulary

By Zoë Skoulding
what travessia/trip/travesia/trajet
             traverses
   the wreck/naufragio/
naufragio/naufrage

of language underwater
   glimpsed through bones and rafters

whose is this zone/zona/zone/zona
   where I am passenger and cargo

and the anchor is a
   weight/peso/peso/poids
​​       and nothing floats freely

not even the cargo of words
   while the names of the dead
      are still sinking

this self/mesmo/mismo/soi
       all at sea/mar/mar/mer
no more than a murmur

in the hold/porão/bodega/cale

there may be dates dental instruments
   detergent
       drafting paper dyestuff

or solvents spark plugs spectacles
​​        staplers sunflower seeds

that is to say
   it’s a mixed vessel/navio mixto/
navío mixto/navire mixte
        carrying only names

say vessel that is my speech
say mouth
    boca/width/anchura/largeur
           say open sea

Copyright Credit: Zoe Skoulding, "A Maritime Vocabulary" from A Marginal Sea. Copyright © 2022 by Zoe Skoulding. Reprinted by permission of Carcanet Press, Ltd..
Source: A Marginal Sea (Carcanet Press, Ltd., 2022)