Main content

Something New: Paul Muldoon reads Hardtack

That a ship’s biscuit might yet see us through
our circumnavigation of the globe
is testimony to its shelf life, true,
though your nonchalant doffing a bathrobe

makes me think you’re also playing for keeps.
That a ship’s biscuit might yet see us through
may be traced back partly to Samuel Pepys
and his time in the navy, partly to

our weevil-sense it’s easier to chew
when first softened behind the lower lip.
That a ship’s biscuit might yet see us through
from the time we weighed anchor at Pike’s Slip

to our pretty much having learned the ropes
vindicates our taking the longer view
and persisting, pretty much, in the hope
that a ship’s biscuit might yet see us through.

Release date:

Duration:

1 minute

More clips from The Verb