Pantoum

The following poem is an example of a pantoum...(a type of form poetry with repeating lines)

The Great Burden of a Fishing Culture

Down by the docks you can buy fish:
fresh from the sea in their death.

Popping eyes,

and gaping mouths.

Fresh from the sea in their death,
sailors are pulled one by one.
And gaping mouths
cover the faces of horrified morning fish shoppers.

Sailors are pulled one by one
from the sea that stole their lives.
Covering the faces of the horrified morning fish shoppers:
the words "storm" and "shipwreck", like a headline.

From the sea that stole their lives,
the sailors had once inherited happiness.
The words "storm" and shipwreck", like a headline,
are shouted throuout the village.

The sailors had once inherited happiness.
Now their great irony is
shouted throught the village.
Who is missing?

Now, their great irony is
that what the sailors loved, killed them.
Who is missing?
What is missing?

That what the sailors loved killed them!
Popping eyes,
what is missing?
Down by the docks you can buy fish.