The code, designed to be used at sea, focuses primarily on navigation and safety. In learning its signals and their meanings, I recognized parallels to the language that many of us use as we navigate and attempt to find safety within systems designed to harm us.

Jennifer (JP) Perrine is the author of five books of poetry: Beautiful Outlaw (forthcoming in 2025), Again, The Body Is No Machine, In the Human Zoo, and No Confession, No Mass. Their latest poems and essays appear in Five Minutes, The Maine Review, Nimrod, New Letters, Poetry Northwest, Orion Magazine, Oregon Humanities, Essential Queer Voices of U.S. Poetry, and Cascadia Field Guide: Art, Ecology, and Poetry. Perrine lives in Portland, Oregon, where they cohost the Incite: Queer Writers Read series, teach writing, and work as the equity and racial justice program manager with the regional parks and nature department.

Artist Reflection

The International Code of Signals, used in maritime flags to communicate needs and desires between vessels that do not share a common language, was the inciting spark for “Buddy System.” The code, designed to be used at sea, focuses primarily on navigation and safety. In learning its signals and their meanings, I recognized parallels to the language that many of us use as we navigate and attempt to find safety within systems designed to harm us. 

In particular, the code’s meanings suggested to me the language that women, femmes, and genderqueer and nonbinary folks have used in bars, clubs, and other social spaces as we attempt to protect ourselves and one another from sexual assault. The title alludes to a method of assault prevention that places the responsibility for thwarting violence on those most likely to be assaulted. When maritime flags signal to other ships, they can communicate the need for aid, for salvage, for rescue. They can alert other vessels to existing dangers and warn them to steer clear. But they do not stop the storm. They do not halt the tide.