the mermaid i know

Things always change
So its pointless to lie to myself
Because if i do
Ill be lying to you
And you see me through windows

Downtown Portland
11th floor of a storied aparment
People watching people light electronic fires
Kindling their narratives in high fashion

But we want the coast
To see our bodies crashing like seals and mermaids
Casting our eyes towards the rocks
For the wavering
The thought we could die
The fear as a flame
Floating our unpredictable meanings

Reviews

[barleygirl]

I'm not fully confident I'm reading this in the way it was conceived, but I'm seeing "window" in verse 1 to symbolize the way people are friends thru computer/device screens only. Further, in V2, it seems as if to say that an entire multi-storied apt building is lit up with screens, but this is a sad scene becuz people are only interacting in that "storybook" fashion so common to social media. I am guilty myself of what you describe in V3, wishing to be that free-crashing mermaid instead of the actual dull disabled life I really do lead. I'm sure everyone can read their own possibilities into this, as well. Maybe the tendency to interact this way is compounded by covid issues in the foreseeable future! (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[dukovan]

Thanks for reading Margie. I wasnt really sure what i was getting at when i wrote it. It was based on a trip my girlfriend and i took. I just let the images come as they were. It was a lousy weekend until we hig the coast. Then everything made sense, or didnt have to make sense anymore. The sunset was to die for. Have you been to the oregon coast? Its my favorite

[barleygirl]

I did a trip from Cali up thru OR & Wash, catching much of the coast along the way & this was 30-some years ago. Just read a great book about hiking the Pacific NW & I'm immersed in the images of it!