This poem was inspired by an exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Prompt: Write a mechanical poem

Mechanical Masterpiece

“Practically unsinkable,”
they said. Nearly perfect
as human brains could make
her—that delicate balance
between strength and beauty:
the gilded opulence of chandeliers
encased in a majestic mix of iron
and steel, girded by three million
rivets lodged in her hull. Red rockets
streamed through the sky as she slid
into the river, steamed down to the Irish Sea
with her massive engines rumbling
until the Atlantic opened up and let her in.
In a word, Titanic, destined to be the machine
that was no match for the moonless ocean—
calm and saltwater cold—and the maze
of ice mountains, floating free. We remember
the remnants of her wreckage: broken cargo
hauls, large iron wrenches, hundreds of intact
au gratin plates, watertight portholes
like hollow shells, five vials of perfume,
the melody of “Sugar Moon”, a lump of coal,
the warning bell.

~Pamela L. Taylor © 2013