Sunday, March 29, 2009

Just a poem for today


Just a poem today…a tad busy in the physical (but no less real) world.


Immersion



Surprising how many sharks troll in your love,

though not unexpected; deep and strong as it is,

I did not plan for only angel fish

when I dove so decidedly in,

bringing extra tanks in case you would not let me breathe,

a knife in case I tangled in your nets,

and lights for darkness in your depths,


(I've done this before, you know, and drowned).

My friend and diving partner quit these seas

when his second marriage sank

with the speed of guilty feet encased in cement,

and tries to convince me to sky dive instead,

the birds always young and fresh like gravity-free chocolate,

tan and firm with a constant upward wind in the face,

but after the short adrenalin minutes

all that remains is to fold the chute.


At least the appetites of sharks are honest

and their bites direct.

So I keep on kicking downward through my years

to swim in your ferocious schools,

to care for your coral,


and maybe,

when oxygen starts running low,

to sing with your whales.

12 comments:

  1. Nice poem as long as your remember to breathe. I was never brave enough to either swim with sharks or sky dive. I just played in the shallow end of the pool.

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  2. Sky diving or swimming with sharks? Do I have another choice?

    Excellent piece; shows the soft side of one of my favorite writers and fellow photographer. But you could please untie Bagman?

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  3. Such an eloquent way with words you have Butler and Bagman........
    I'm quite impressed (though I was already).....
    Take good care and.......

    Steady On
    Reggie Girl

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  4. B&B, I enjoy your writing and your blog. I was recruited by Reggie Girl to Friday Shoot-outs. I opened a blog for that on Friday. "Cemeteries" was different, but interesting. You can find my first post at Friday Shoot-out From Florida (blog). I'll exchange a few poems I've written, if you're interested. The blog I work the most on thus far is foreverfishingfriends. Drop in sometime. I guess I'll be seeing you on Fridays. Do you know next Friday's theme yet? GordonH

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  5. Correction on my blog name? It is: Friday Shoot-outs From Florida

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  6. Hi. This is such a nice way to say your views about our depleting environment..

    Maybe my husband who's a songwriter and arranger can put the melody in your poems and turn it into an environmental awareness theme song.

    Have a nice day to you both..

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  7. ooh goosebumps! beautiful poem.
    love from the Gnu

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  8. Beautiful poem. I don't quite understand metaphors most of the time (i'm pretty dumb when it comes to that) but those are beautiful words and I know beautiful words!

    I can just imagine a body of water in here LOL.

    By the way, what's the next topic for the shootout, you're the next one, aren't you? :)

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  9. Thank you all for wonderful comments. The next topic for the shootout is Wildlife in our backyards or neighborhood...how nature adapts to the encroachment of people.

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  10. Very deep, Sir, just like the light-and-dark ocean, and as beautiful and full of meaning as the dappled-white horses that ride the waves...


    You are very talented. Thank you.

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