human armchairs, loving familySensible sentences can't convey how it was to be trapped in a house of stairs with no railings, on the beach impossible to access without help, ocean waves subsumed by human construction.
And yet, with help, an experience sublime.
So, a poem. What is a poem? What is life?
Trapped in a house of obstacles,
ocean sings my body as I sit on the deck,
hoping for help.
The kitchen lives above the spiral stairs with no rails.
The living room with the view joins the kitchen,
excluding me.
Once a day I crawl up the spiral to sit uncomfortably with family.
They eat and talk, ask me kind questions.
I panic as I chew, seeing a friendly expectant look.
Will I get to swallow this bite or should I park it now in my cheek?
Quick! Think of a tweet short enough to utter with my limited breath,
clever enough to remind everyone I am still entertaining.
The moment passes, tweet wasted, still ringing in my mind.
Once a day I scootch down the giant other stairs with no rails,
wobble on my sticks down the walkway
between two houses in cacophonous construction
determined to overcome the sound of waves.
Finally down the stairs to the beach,
Finally, a railing.
Gripping gratefully I approach my love, my life.
Take me and I will take you.
In the sand my feet wake up flickering neurons.
Very near the water I sit, beg her to come closer.
She does, a rough lover, throwing her power
into my yearning spine.
Now I want to live. I want to live. Please let me live.
On our last day two dolphins arrive
exactly at my gaze and dance with me.
Two young lovers, my child and her beloved,
frolic as I say farewell.
August 27, 2021