Not Shakespeare’s Tempest

The tempest rains,

maleficence precipitating chaos,

a director of keyless minstrelsy.

Panic swells and teases but

the crew continues to fight.

The captain poised and timeless

clashes with the discordant foe-

an inharmonious congruence

of thunder and light

of creation and existence

of man and the tempest.

Calamity drones on

and unlike Shakespeare's-

our crew continues to fight

and there is no surrender.

A relentless tempest, yes,

but these men control their tempers.

And yet, William's comedy prevails.

Destruction increases tempo

apprehension staccatos the minds of the men before-

The tempest howls and crescendos.

The men swept from the vessel

left to wrestle the uncharitable tide.

I read William Shakespeare's, The Tempest, during my undergraduate career and this is a poem in response to Act 1: scene i. The poem offers an alternative approach to characters' behaviors, but still deliver the same result (people getting thrown overboard and washing ashore).

In Shakespeare's drama the captain quits and the boatswain assumes command of the ship. Chaos ensues as the storm persists and royal members on board the ship mock and threaten the boatswain. Nothing can be accomplished because of the discourse between the men and they are thrown overboard.

In my edition the captain doesn't quit and the men work harmoniously in the face of death. All the same, the men in this version are thrown overboard.

The purpose of me creating this new approach is to argue that it matters not whether we are arguing or working together as Mother Nature has the final say.

Now go read the real thing!!