Geology 101

Jenner, CA –2009

I remember it like it was

yesterday, your damp hair

flapping against the cold

steel of the car door, your

poise firm and observant, as you

stand and take pictures

of the surf. The waves

 

crash into one another and melt,

and give up form in crashing, still

opposing, but becoming one. Funny, the

pictures say it was cloudy that day, but

my mind has a special periscope

for such occasions, one in which

 

the sun shines tactfully bright,

in which my mixtape plays without a

hitch, the notes proceeding and

receeding with the waves

of our longing, in which

 

you  smile, and uncork the

bubbly, smiling, pouring me, happy,

a glass, and through which your

smile is not hesitant, not

cloaking your somber dread

of what could prove to rip

tide me and leave me lost at sea.

 

Some of this is feigned of course, for

True healthy minds must self-cleanse,

Their memories a constant ebb and flow,

In and ever out and in, working and

reworking their neverending

cavities of space, once and once

 

again. I cling to you and say,

“It is solid rock.” Between the

hard place I have left for you

to go, and the time we make

our way back down the 101

to home, you hold me

back, and watch the trees

along the cliff face, and the waves

crashing, going slowly south.

 

Some of this is feigned, of course,

Your smiling then, and shushing my

hesitation, and drinking another

glass, brim full, and pressing

our swelled chests together,

and saying, “These are solid.”

 

But some, some of this I know

Lives beyond my mind, forever

Etched in the record book of Time,

your eyes as you regard the trees,

my trembling hand projecting my

shuddering heartbeat out to you,

the sweetness of the wine, and

the dew on the steel, and

 

the way the waves rock

back and forth, with us, time

and time again, slowly eroding

that sand, that solid rock.

 

Author's Note

Possibly the most "narrative" poem I've ever written, an experiment.

Reviews

[Naomi Montana Walsh]

I really loved the poem and the solid rock that was between you and the hard place, so well done. My compliments

[Jenny Nelson]

I liked it. It definitely was able to paint a picture and give a sense of time passing. I get a sad sense of a relationship that is not what it's percieved to be and, what is of it, erroding away. Nothing harsh, just time doing its thing, but leaving a pleasant if not longing memory.