Salt and Steel is a poem inspired by the covert work of Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal divers conducting underwater mine recovery and technical exploitation operations. Moving silently through darkness with only sonar, touch, and training to guide them, the divers recover enemy weapons from the sea floor so their secrets can be studied and dismantled. Blending operational realism with stark imagery, the poem explores the tension between danger, ritual, and the cold forensic nature of war beneath the surface.
Salt and Steel
Harry Mayer
In moonlit silence,
rugged men in rubber boats
paddle off a hostile shore.
rugged men in rubber boats
paddle off a hostile shore.
Into the icy sea they slip.
Into the darkness. Into the deep.
Into the darkness. Into the deep.
Quiet now. Only sonar pings.
Swish nock, swish nock.
Deeper into darkness.
Swish nock, swish nock.
Deeper into darkness.
A one-ton mine sleeps on the seabed.
Listening. Hungry. Waiting.
Listening. Hungry. Waiting.
No lights to guide.
Just touch and sound.
Swish nock, swish nock, deeper down.
Just touch and sound.
Swish nock, swish nock, deeper down.
On the ocean floor it slumbers,
half buried, half proud.
When they rig it, blackfish scatter.
half buried, half proud.
When they rig it, blackfish scatter.
With a micro shaped charge and lift balloon,
they raise and tow the mine.
they raise and tow the mine.
Drag it onto the beach.
Drag it through kelp and sand.
Drag it with lines drawn taut.
Drag it through kelp and sand.
Drag it with lines drawn taut.
Explosive stripping. Components exposed.
Bomb techs feed like vultures.
Bomb techs feed like vultures.
Secrets pulled from salt and steel.
Rubber boats return to sea.
Rubber boats return to sea.