"The Sound of Metal" (A Poem)

 

In August of 2000, the Russian nuclear submarine K-141 Kursk sank in the Barents Sea while conducting a naval exercise. The Russian Navy launched a four-day rescue operation to save the sailors; however, their efforts were a failure, with many arguing officials botched the rescue.[1] This poem by Gary “Mex” Glazner offers an American’s perspective on the tragedy, detailing the slow deaths of the 118 individuals trapped inside the submarine’s hull.

 
For the Sailors of the submarine Kursk
(symbols are to be performed as Morse code)

 
. . . - . . .
. . . - . . .

 
. . . - . . .
. . . - . . .

 
The sound of metal ringing in the sea.
A map to speak of possibility.

 
Concentric tones of need.
A rhythm charged with want.

 
Where does it come from?

 
A steel pulse calling
rising to the surface
clinging to any ear.

 
Reaching up an atlas of why.
What language is this?

 
How to explain the density of air?
 

This is the speech of ocean.
This is the breath you are not taking.
 

Calling out-free us. Calling out-find us.
We are not hidden.
We are simple sailors,
Won’t you gossip about survival?
 

He has always loved swimming in the river
and it was impossible to pull him out of there.
 

We know that they are still alive,
because they knock on the walls.
 

Carbon Dioxide hatches every dream exhaled.
 

The absolute truth of lungs.
The fierce work of depth-charge.
 

Claustrophobic frontier.
This foul moment of union.
 

We are listening.
They are banging an alarm of devotion.
 

They tell us who to wait for.
A multitude of pounding.
The drum composed of life.
An instrument of clarity.
 

Singing of consummation.
A bell clinging to the shape of its chime.
Sound quick as water.
Tone thicker than time.
A tapping faint as forget.
Buoyant into the fracture.
Floating up like prayers.
 

. . . - . . .
. . . - . . .
 

. . . - . . .
. . . - . . .[2]
 

Works Referenced

 

Glazner, Gary “Mex.” “The Sound of Metal.” The Complete Idiots Guide to Writing Poetry. Ed. Mikki Moustaki. New York: Alpha Books, 2001. 237-239.

 
Moore, Robert. A Time To Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy. New York: The Three Rivers Press, 2002.
____________________
[1] Moore, 1-7.
[2] Glazner, 237-239.