There is a place where the flood came to the dock
Where the boat was waiting; we had both learned
How to use the oars in rolling water, to not fear
Water over our feet, to know that all the branches,
The leaves, the dirt, the fencing, would settle
When the wind dropped. The water may be higher,
The lake fuller, but we would still be floating.
Sharing this with both The Sunday Muse and with Poets United. Embarrassed to say that I'm having a little creative interference this weekend, so this may be less coherent than usual. :)
-- Chrissa
Sounds like quite a flood!!
ReplyDeleteIts difficult in the grip of fear to look to after the flood
ReplyDeleteNice contemplation. Happy Sunday
Much🌻love
This poem makes me think of the many communities, in eastern Canada and in the USA, struggling with massive floods this spring. I worry about the animals, domestic and wild as there are few resources to rescue them.
ReplyDeleteWe do know floods all too well don't we? I can feel it in your poem Chrissa. It leaves a mark that never leaves. No apologies needed. This is moving and wonderfully crafted and completely coherant in my book. 😎
ReplyDeleteCould be worse . . . at least she floated . . . :)
ReplyDeleteI read this as a relationship metaphor. Things can get choppy, appear strange, get alarming. But if two people have been through it before, they know not to panic. Everything will settle again, perhaps differently, but life will go on and be peaceful again. Or so I read.
ReplyDeleteI too read this as a relationship metaphor. A ckind of been there, done that and I have the tee shirt to prove it. We row together and are saved, we row separately, we are lost.
ReplyDeleteI also read it as metaphor, but more as referring to life's various disasters which 'we' can meet together, rather than a glitch in the relationship itself. Very powerfully described either way.
ReplyDeleteVery coherent … and beautifully penned.
ReplyDeleteI feel the tension of the waters rising, metaphoric or real!
ReplyDeleteI like the metaphor used to depict how we grow as a person...to not fear, to be strong, to keep faith and hope that tough times shall pass and we shall eventually survive all odds!
ReplyDeleteThis is incredibly powerful!!
ReplyDeleteIt's life...peaks and troughs....floods and droughts.I have a logo on my fridge...hang in there...that's all we can do...a sense of humour helps as well.
ReplyDeleteI found your poem very hopeful, loved it, Chrissa.
ReplyDeleteStill felt very cohesive to me. I thought it was a sharp eyed look at the rough spots that occur in people's lives, but even if we are left surrounded by the detritus of the storm, we're still there.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me think of our Houston flood, Harvey. We were surrounded by rising water, no way out, but we were spared the water reaching our home.
ReplyDeleteI loved this Chrissa, warmed with positive possibility and fired with the power of confidence. Wonderful take on the prompt!
ReplyDeleteI love the closing image, the idea that regardless of what happens... speaker and subject will live it together.
ReplyDeleteFloods from nature, and your own eyes. Beautiful piece, Chrissa.
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