Ishmael’s Concordance
Think, Ahab,
of three last things:
water, whale, world.
Harpooners know,
sailors, hands—
Queequeg, Starbuck, Stubb.
See, Captain,
the long looks, far eyes
among day, night, sea.
The great Pequod,
once right, seems
small, still, old.
Aye, good Sir,
something soon parts:
a leg, a line, a life.
Oh, take the whole:
air, ship, time,
gods, men, white.
Scott Wiggerman (website) is the author of two books of poetry, Vegetables and Other Relationships and Presence, forthcoming from Pecan Grove Press this year. A frequent workshop instructor, he is also an editor for Dos Gatos Press, publisher of the annual Texas Poetry Calendar, now in its thirteenth year. In his cover letter, he described “Ishmael’s Concordance” as “an experimental poem using 50 of the 100 most common words in Melville’s Moby-Dick.”
qarrtsiluni 
What a wonderful poem, both a tribute to and the essence of “Moby Dick.”
wow, this was a great full read
Love this…
This is terrific, and all the more impressive after finding out how it was written. Much enjoyed.
Great poem. Love the way it was created, an interesting idea and one that obviously worked.
Lots of work Scott. You are truly focused!
It works. Bravo. What an intriguing idea.
Where did you get that idea? Amazing, and so many different levels of how it can be seen/ interpreted.
So many things that are clever are heartless: this is what clever should be – a boiling down to the heart of things.