The Diver's Schooner

The speaker begins the poem above water on a boat preparing for their dive. They put on their “body-armor of black rubber” scuba suit, “absurd flippers,” and the “awkward” scuba mask (5-7). The speaker describes their boat by mentioning how it is the opposite of how they imagine Jacques Cousteau’s boat looked. His boat being filled with an “assiduous team” diving on a picturesque “sun-flooded” day (10-11). The speaker is alone on their boat and the only depiction of it is the unremarkable “sundry” ladder that could be confused for “maritime floss” (20-21).

In stanza three, the speaker climbs down the ladder and enters the second setting of the poem, under the ocean’s surface. The poem starts above water to show a clear boundary being crossed when the speaker enters the ocean. There is a shift between the preparation and knowledge already known – “the...