'As Though It Was Meant to Happen'
This is Cornelius Eady's lovely reimagining of the old Leadbelly song, in which Jack Johnson is refused a ticket on the Titanic:
Jack Johnson Does The Eagle RockPerhaps he left the newspaper stand that morningdazed, a few pennies lighter,The illustration of the crippled ocean linerwith the berth he had the moneyBut not the skin to buyEngraving itselfOn that portion of the mind reserved forlucky breaks.Perhaps the newsboy, a figure too small tobring back,Actually heard his laugh,As the S.S. Titanic, sans one prize fighter,Goes down again all over New York,Watched his body danceAs his arms lift the ship, now a simple millimeter thick,above his headIn the bustling air, lift it upAs though it was meant to happen,
For the literal-minded, there's no evidence that Jack Johnson was refused a ticket. I hate having to add that, but comedy and poetry posts seem to attract the world's most narrow- and literal-minded people. The poem is from Eady's great book, Victims of the Latest Dance Craze.