Haiku part 2

We're sailing back and nearing the shelf. The sea's changed colour from the riotous irrepressible phthalo of the open ocean to a more subdued blue. I've tried to capture some of the highs and lows of the ship, what it's felt like to do this work and be at sea. The tail-end of sampling, and the transit back. Many thanks to everyone on board. It's been a wonderful cruise. 

SAMPLING

Mooring
Search for shards of glass
Shock wave, clear sphere, pressure wear 
An imploded float

Sediment resettles
Resuspension tension – a
Sea of possibilities

Lost glider
Uncertain searchlights
Suicide glider spirals
Error bar in (d)ark

How I learned to stop worrying, and love the autosub
Rocsi repaired – but
Lost in a lithium haze
It was the last dive

Battery blown, no
Drama, only theatre, as
We’ll repair her

We love to box 2
We land a dropped core
Slanted, slumped, we scrape off deck
A sinking feeling

The box core reveals 
Intricate ikebana
A perfect array

Mega
Mega core hits floor
We’re holding it together,
Helping each other

Whale and the worm
Zombie worm in bone
To pick (with beer). We’ll
Stay on after shift

Barbie pig
Dancer in the dark
Pig parades towards us, in
A dramatic arc

DAYS AND DAYS 2

The pressure drop
Science is over
Crushed-cold-deep-sea-salt beer
Tasting like champagne

A pop up party
Crumpled deep-sea CTD
Our euphoria

Fly by
Polystyrene and
Fly swatting punctuating
The science meeting

Night and day
Fins in the water
Sunsets, or laughter elsewhere
Fear of missing out

Handover passing
Buzzing energy, or sullen
It’s like night and day

Stories shift to shift
leave questions for the others
Who or what you miss

The fog of war (or assassin)
Killed in the kitchen
No drama, only theatre,
A work of fiction

Garrulous in the galley
Curry, and steak and chips
Thai tacos, Cod Mario?
And double dessert!

What’s your wrestler name
Homogeniser
Bethy-snap, Nodule-snapper
And Turkey baster

Fish Splitter and the
Bone saw. Oxygenator
And Hall Monitor

Clip-board, Lumberjack
Bad back, Body Bag, Fly-catch-
Ahh… Megafauna!

Warm ups 1) 
Boxing
Show us your mana
Pulling up to the bar, you
Wahine Toa!

2) Rehearsal 
Feedback for the band
Tinkering and tuning in
Impromptu improv

What's the weirdest thing on the James Cook
Essential sundries
A salad spinner at sea
Oddest things aboard

Maps 1: Mathematicians Ridge: Euclid’s corner
Cutting a corner
Subsea volcano crossed
the way back around

Dorodango disappointment
Dango deployment
Moment slips, lip dips in, a
Lesson in attention

Nights and days 2
We made it through. To
Collapse, puddles on sofa
All states (of) matter

Venus and new moon
Lid of light on horizon
Milky sea at dusk

A storm out to sea
Hazy on horizon, I'm
Rummaged by the wind

Salt sticky on skin,
Heavy with heat, starboard side
Sun spilt on the sea

Speed of the ship now
A subject of interest,
We’ll be on our way

Watertight door test
Hangar clear, all squared away
The sea, incessant