Here I stand upon the ship,
in shorts, a blue and white summer top.
White canvas shoes dig into the platform,
hold me up, as my hands hoist down the long
cotton rope with its many knots. I then lower it,
lower it into the deep marigold abyss. The rope snaps,
I topple over in slow motion,
feel the wind wrap around me as I fall. A scream
tries to surface, but only silence.
My body reaches the heaviness of the water, a hard slap
on my whole being, as I plunge down…down.
I fight it. I’m sinking. I panic and then…and then,
just when I feel as though I’ve died, I stop fighting,
give into to the weightlessness and there I stay.
4 comments:
Rebb,
It sounds like a dream, and the dream has colors. And thick marigold color is my favorite. This is a dream of living, not dead.
Yes, it sounded like a dream to me too: vivid as a painting by David Hockney, or my own memories of ships and water.
Keiko and Vincent,
Your comments are music to my senses. This came to me first as a flash and then I followed my inner projector, but I also had a dream similar with respect to the water and falling that occurred weeks ago, maybe even a month or two. Both of your comments have brought "Marigold" to life in a way that could not occur without your interactions with it. Thank you for that.
Keiko, I have to tell you that two days ago--the day after I wrote this poem--when I walked into the courtyard at work, the gardeners were planting marigolds all around! Can you believe it. They looked so lovely and it felt like a priceless moment.
Vincent, I looked on google at David Hockney's work and wanted to see more up closer, so I went to the library and checked out "Hockney's Pictures: The Definitive Retrospective Compiled with Commentary by David Hockney." Thank you so much for pointing me toward him. I am enjoying flipping through the book and you have inspired me to post a few of my "face" paintings done years ago.
p.s. I just read your “Climb the Lowest Mountain.” It’s brilliant. I love it. I will comment later because I like to give time to digest these rich blogs. But I wanted to quickly say that inspiration is in the air—amazing!
Oh good, Rebb. Your remarks inspired me to go back to my post and give it a thorough re-edit. Then I came back to look for your new post and it's gone. I hope you are just re-editing it!
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