We’re Building the Ship as We Sail It, Kay Ryan (from Poetry Magazine, June 2006)

We’re Building the Ship as We Sail It, Kay Ryan (from Poetry Magazine, June 2006)
The first fear
being drowning, the
ship’s first shape
was a raft, which
was hard to unflatten
after that didn’t
happen. It’s awkward
to have to do one’s
planning in extremis
in the early years -
so hard to hide later:
sleekening the hull,
making things
more gracious.