#gemderroles — Public Fediverse posts

Titanic: The Stacked Deck

The Stacked Deck
by Stewart Stafford

I am the last man alive on the Titanic.
Do they commemorate rote chivalry?
Did they notice in the lifeboats
as I was savaged by the ravenous sea?

Into choking darkness, I fell tumbling,
The ship’s name eaten up in black,
Freezing water smothered my lungs;
Even if found, there’s no way back.

Women and children first, they said!
Our end certain as the sinking prow,
Would mothers now nobly step aside
to grant my final resting place somehow?

Classless wine, champagne bottles bobbed;
Numb fingers clasped at Old World pleasantries.
From the mass grave: “Tomb it may concern…”
The guilty waves murmur my eulogies.

© 2026 Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.

Titanic: The Stacked Deck

The Stacked Deck
by Stewart Stafford

I am the last man alive on the Titanic.
Do they commemorate rote chivalry?
Did they notice in the lifeboats
as I was savaged by the ravenous sea?

Into choking darkness, I fell tumbling,
The ship’s name eaten up in black,
Freezing water smothered my lungs;
Even if found, there’s no way back.

Women and children first, they said!
Our end certain as the sinking prow,
Would mothers now nobly step aside
to grant my final resting place somehow?

Classless wine, champagne bottles bobbed;
Numb fingers clasped at Old World pleasantries.
From the mass grave: “Tomb it may concern…”
The guilty waves murmur my eulogies.

© 2026 Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.