Alice Kociemba shares the poem, “Homage to the Patricia Marie.”
Note: The scallop-laden Patricia Marie sank with all hands aboard Oct. 24, 1976, the worst night for the Provincetown fishing fleet in over 60 years. The boat went down about three miles off Nauset Light in heavy seas and rain. Only the body of vessel captain William King was immediately recovered — the next day, on a buoy. Immediately after the sinking, the crew remained missing and presumed dead. They were Morris Joseph; his son, Alton; Walter Marshall; Richard Oldenquist; Robert Zawalick; and Ernest Cordeiro. The italicized lines in the poem were taken from newspaper reports, and the inquest transcript that determined the cause of the loss of the boat and its crew.
Alice Kociemba is a co-editor of From the Farther Shore: Discovering Cape Cod and the Islands Through Poetry (Bass River Press), along with Robin Smith-Johnson and Rich Youmans. “Homage to the Patricia Marie” is one of the anthology’s 118 poems that celebrate the region’s heritage, history, people, industries, and spirit. Alice is founding director of Calliope Poetry and is the author of Bourne Bridge (Turning Point, 2016). She lives in North Falmouth, with her husband, Rich Youmans.
