NEW! ELECTRIC BOAT by PAUL McDONOUGH ~

 

Paul McDonough

Electric Boat, A Collection of Atomic Shipyard Poems

Longhouse

2026

available now

New, perfect bound, 142 pages

Poetry & Photographs

$24

$6 shipping to US addresses

by Paypal or check

Please use our email address of longhousepoetry@gmail.com

LONGHOUSE

P.O. Box 2454

West Brattleboro

Vermont

05303

~

"The poems have the sea edge to them, the rime, the flotsam, the hurt of working in the open, the science of something ever larger than us. It isn’t simply the poems a poet wants to make, but that is essential, and more the overall aura. It is the aura missing from most poets and music today. They don’t live in their work, and your book has it, along with some fright to what you are living with."

"The photos, by the way, are essential to the text to swim the mind and eye, and it does."

— Bob Arnold

 ~

PAUL McDONOUGH ~

 

Blow Back

once

upon a time

a boat due

for wetdock

maintenance

and repairs

officers

enlisted men

headed to port

...

...

waste

dumped

fore not aft

in briny deep

by mistake

boat sailed

through a cloud

of trash

what was nuclear

gave the hull

a radioactive

veneer

...

...

atomic footprints

of one hundred men

headed for shore

leave

across the deck

of the submarine

tracked

hither and yon

through the night

to

bars

brothels

trailer parks

families and friends

crew pulled back

for safety checks

...

...

but also

running silent

running deep

to keep it

from the press

________________________

Paul McDonough

Electric Boat

Bullhead Books 2024