Truman State University Press
New Odyssey Series
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Published by Truman State University Press, Kirksville, Missouri USA
tsup.truman.edu
© 2009 Michael Spence
New Odyssey Series
All rights reserved
Cover image: Descent, by Dan Spence. Used by permission.
Cover design: Teresa Wheeler
Type: Minion Pro © Adobe Systems Inc. and Myriad Pro © Adobe Systems Inc.
Printed by: Edwards Brothers, Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Spence, Michael, 1952 Feb. 21–
Crush depth / Michael Spence.
p. cm. — (New odyssey series)
ISBN 978-1-931112-90-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. United States. Navy—Officers—Poetry. 2. Fathers and sons—Poetry. I.
Title.
PS3569.P4455C78 2009
811'.54—dc22
2009009850
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any format by any
means without written permission from the publisher.
The paper in this publication meets or exceeds the minimum requirements of
the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992.
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for my father,
James W. Spence
(1922–1993)
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
ix
I. DARKEN SHIP
Saudade
Below Decks
Recruiters
Anchored Out
The Landlocked Sea
Class Portrait
Oracle
The Safety Officer’s Account: Letter, Report, Journal
Addendum to the Safety Officer’s Account
True
Darken Ship
The Right Way to Escape from a Sinking Ship
3
4
6
7
9
10
12
13
15
16
19
20
II. SHELLBACK
A Snapshot of My Father from the War
The Little Penguins of Prince Phillip Island
The Fig Curtain of Atherton
A Cairns Idyll
A Southern Vintage: Mount Aitken Vineyard,
South Australia, 1986
The Darter and the Dace, the Way I Wish He’d Told It
Palawan Passage
The Desert Pinnacles
Waking Late
Roundabout
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25
26
28
29
30
32
35
38
41
42
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III. THE UNBROKEN CODE
Nisqually Bay
The Paddle
My Father Washing Dishes (I)
My Father Washing Dishes (II)
An Engineering Problem
The Bayou Drive-In
The Unbroken Code
Crush Depth
Father Gathers His Breath
47
48
50
51
52
54
60
63
64
About the Author
67
viii
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following publications
in which some of these poems first appeared:
The American Scholar: “Darken Ship,” “The Right Way to Escape
from a Sinking Ship,” and “Roundabout”
The Amicus Journal: “The Fig Curtain of Atherton”
The Antioch Review: “An Engineering Problem”
Barrow Street: “The Safety Officer’s Account: Letter, Report,
Journal”
The Chariton Review: “Class Portrait”
The New Criterion: “The Darter and the Dace, the Way I Wish
He’d Told It”
The New Republic: “Addendum to the Safety Officer’s Account”
Nimrod: “My Father Washing Dishes (I)” and “My Father
Washing Dishes (II)”
The North American Review: “Father Gathers His Breath” and
“The Unbroken Code”
Poetry: “Saudade” © 1996 by the Modern Poetry Association
Poetry Northwest: “The Bayou Drive-In”
Press: “Anchored Out” and “Nisqually Bay”
The Seattle Review: “The Little Penguins of Prince Phillip Island”
The Sewanee Review: “Below Decks” and “Palawan Passage” (first
published in vol. XX, no. 1, Spring 1991, and vol. 115, no. 4,
Winter 2007, respectively)
Southwest Review: “Oracle”
Tar River Poetry: “A Southern Vintage: Mount Aitken Winery,
South Australia, 1986”
“The Right Way to Escape from a Sinking Ship” is reprinted from
The Spine (Purdue University Press, 1987)
ix
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“The Safety Officer’s Account: Letter, Report, Journal” was
reprinted in Pontoon #8: An Anthology of Washington State
Poets (Floating Bridge Press, 2005)
“Oracle” was reprinted on the Verse Daily website (May 16, 2006)
“Darken Ship” and “Roundabout” were reprinted in Limbs of
the Pine, Peaks of the Range: Poems by Twenty-Six Pacific
Northwest Poets (Rose Alley Press, 2007)
For their advice on my work, my thanks and deep gratitude to
John Davis, Susan Landgraf, Judy Lightfoot, Robert McNamara,
Sati Mookerjee, Arlene Naganawa, Judith Skillman, and Ann
Spiers; to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference; and especially to my
wife, Sharon Hashimoto, whose constant support and inspiration
helped me to assemble the past.
x
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Spence spent a hitch as a naval officer aboard
the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67),
which is now decommissioned. For the last twentyfive years, he has driven public-transit buses in the
Seattle area. He has had two previous collections
published: The Spine (Purdue University Press, 1987)
and Adam Chooses (Rose Alley Press, 1998). In 1990,
Spence received a Creative Writing Fellowship from
the National Endowment for the Arts. Crush Depth
was twice a finalist for The New Criterion Poetry
Prize. His work has also appeared in numerous
journals.
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