Sign Inventory - Week 4

To the Harbormaster
Frank O’Hara
Contemporary American Poetry


I wanted to be sure to reach you;
though my ship was on the way it got caught
in some moorings. I am always tying up
and then deciding to depart. In storms and
at sunset, with the metallic coils of the tide
around my fathomless arms, I am unable
to understand the forms of my vanity
or I am hard alee with my Polish rudder
in my hand and the sun sinking. To
you I offer my hull and the tattered cordage
of my will. The terrible channels where
the wind drives me against the brown lips
of the reeds are not all behind me. Yet
I trust the sanity of my vessel; and
if it sinks, it may well be in answer
to the reasoning of the eternal voices,
the waves which have kept me from reaching you.

Inventory:
1. Harbormaster has two meanings: a) a person who directs ships in and out of a marina, and b) a company that made houseboats beginning in 1958.

2. The narrator’s indecision is reflected multiple times throughout the poem. For example, “I am always tying up and then deciding to depart” and “In storms and at sunset…I am unable to understand the forms of my vanity.”

3. There are many nautical terms at use – harbormaster, hard alee, rudder, cordage, hull, vessel – suggesting the narrator is familiar with sailing/boating.

4. The term “hard alee” specifically reflects the narrator’s indecision because it is a command that informs the crew the helm of the boat is being turned leeward (away from the shore). To be “hard alee” is to turn the boat windward.

5. His “fathomless arms” seem to suggest the narrator is becoming part of his/her environment. The usual association with the term, fathomless, is with the sea. The sea is fathomless. His/her arms have become fathomless, hinting that he/she feels more at home and more connection with the ocean than with the “Harbormaster”.

6. There is the use of personification while describing the reeds as “brown lips”. The color is interesting and does not conjure a pleasant image. Lips are usually thought of as red, pink, pale, soft, etc. Reeds often have a rough texture and are not attractive plants.

7. The narrator offers his/her “tattered cordage of my will.” This implies their feelings have become worn and frayed. They could possibly snap and disallow them to control their feelings.

8. The term “hull” is used to describe the insides of the boat. It is a place used for storage and stability. The question now becomes is his/her “hull” empty or full? Has it been stable? The indecisive terminology used in the poem suggests it is not. If the hull is not in use or not stable then why is the narrator offering it to another person?

9. The phrase “terrible channels” inserts an element of danger into the poem. One is reminded of the Odyssey myth and his attempt to pass between Scylla and Charybdis. Another image that comes to mind is the Lorelai of German myth.

10. The term “yet” indicates a turning of thought – a decision has been made. The narrator has become suddenly decisive.

11. The second person “you” is vague. Is the narrator talking to the reader, an official Harbormaster, or another person entirely. The subject of the poem is the unknown variable, and allows the reader to create the meaning.