Skip to main content

Sea Series, Poem 4: Casting Off (This Mortal Coil)

When you cast your boat off that dock
Your trust is with the builders, with the ideas
Of man, who saw nature and found a way
To hoist sails and lay boards just so.

This connection, this estuarine moment,
Your river of a life, meeting the sea,
Takes all of you. No longer a riparian
Bystander, you lift your sails to the sun.

Whatever maelstrom you face,
You meet with the eyes of Poseidon.
Today is your fusion with the Atman,
You are a shell in the deep.

You cannot see yourself through
The waves and the soak. But you are
There, and you know the sand layers
Beneath your rudder all play a part.

The stage was set by the stars
And how they shine, guiding you
Home, to drown in the sunlight, bleached
Of fear, to become the vibration and the wave.

--

Mad Words List 7.31.18

Estuarine
Riparian
Maelstrom
Soak
Bleach

--

I've been thinking about how writing (and poetry especially) reinforces connections in our brain, but I also was inspired by the words this week to think of how we are always part of something more than ourselves. And how perfect a way to explore that understanding than by putting your life into someone else's hands, like the builder of a boat, or the conditions and will of the ocean tide?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yins and Yangs

Just this minute, the white-tailed Magpies are finding themselves In the verdant glades of the Rockies, As the aspens, fresh green, quake in the wind. They know nothing of Jon Snow, Or the window on the second floor Where I look out, remembering, Longing for apricity, the sun on my face. But the gloam is settling in, And the magpies will soon be seeking Windows of their own To look out of. And I think the shadows on my page Are cast like dark rainbows - made of light And things in the way. Awe-inspiring shapes I couldn't see in the dark. Is it best to be inside or Outside? Or can I be moved To appreciate this Pedulumic cycle - To be tossed, fro and to, Between creation and decay, Between sunrise and Sunset? Do you feel the loam in your hands, How rich it is when you dig deeper? Do you admire how perfectly The lilac blossom, with its powerful redolence, Seeks your attention as if to say, "Stay outside for a while." As my colleague yamm...
Post a Comment
Read more

On My Honor

In the vicissitudes of life, I had started to know The downturn from the sky-high. I watched it wax, Wondering if it would wane, or rain, or snow. Instead, it was just cold, like silence. But not the silence Of respect. Nor the silence like standing in a band room in 6th grade, Instruments still, while we heard about Terror on the television, and watched the towers fall. A tragedy, it was something close to that, but less Permanent. There was hope of rising from the grave After three days or a hundred, I’d wait for you To come around. But I wasn’t the symbol to your meaning, I was just the cymbal that brought noise to your busy Mental street. Clash, bang, just atmosphere humming. Notes on a page you barely read, maybe skimmed. Swipe, like, scroll -- just another “friend” making The Honor Roll. On my honor, do I solemnly swear, To care. To carry your memory like a wound, Unforgettable and deep, oh the colors you made beneath my skin. I wanted rainbows for days. But...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bonus Poem: Look Up!

Looking down, I read the priceless pages, Someone else, sweetly, precisely, Had written their drinkable life on. And I drank in the appreciation Of her words, one sentence at a time, A good, fresh white. Sensational, the clouds were Pouring in, filling my cup,  Easing in, with a soft voice that said, "Look up!" My eyes glanced, only peeking At first, toward the sky. Those rain-bringers harnessing My irises with glee. And as if it had been there All along, the whole long while, A sparrow drifted into the Watercolor before me, soaring. It glided on the currents That were my own world, too. And we shared the view, Him up there, I, eyes lifting further now. And then the wind found itself Playing in the cottonwood's hair. And I smiled, thinking About how good it probably felt, Those wind-fingers, sifting through. 
Post a Comment
Read more