The Poetry Marathon

Baptism

Baptism

 

As a sucker for symbolism,

I was baptized in elementary school.

 

I’d witnessed plenty of baptisms in 

baptismal pools

Ponds

Metal wash tubs in store-front churches.

None of them were like mine.

My father – not a pastor – prayed for me and dipped me in our family bathtub.

 

Usually, robed men lift their hands to God 

Debate whether to say Jesus or Father Son Holy Ghost

Debate whether to sprinkle, dip, dunk, or drown

Some say everything.

Some do everything.

But nobody being baptized really cares what they say at all.

 

The men mumble on

while you, draped in white,

contemplate how your life will change after this moment.

How after your body makes contact with this water

you will do life right 

this time.

This time is new.

And doesn’t everyone deserve a moment such as this –

A moment when water floods the ears

A moment of shocking cold that palpitates the heart

A moment of weightless abandon to 

Hope

That you can finally be new

And clean

And right

And holy.

Hope is a holy thing that must be watered.

Water (Hour 1)

 

 

Water

 

Twirling a thousand miles per hour, I don’t notice.

This dry outpost is almost seventy percent water, I don’t notice.

 

Submersing in womblike wet warmth

melts my mind

into primal time

when I swam like a fish

before I squirmed

through a canal to gasp

cough and sputter in air.

 

Oceans surround me with most of our water

which I can’t drink.

Icecaps and glaciers have most of the fresh water

which I can’t get to.

 

But who needs fact and figures?

What’s to be gained from figuring things out?

 

Sink or swim is what it’s all about.

Am I learning to take it to the next level?

Who’s to say this isn’t transition?

I swam before I breathed.

 

Could this life be the womb

that is preparing me to fly?

 

 

 

 

 

Poem 1. In Water

In Water

When I was a child
I had a dream that we
were fishing off the
rocks near the Queen Mary in
Long Beach, where the colorful

starfish could be pulled
up and played with, held to the
sunlight,  shimmery.
glistening  in my little
girl hands under the hot day.

Sitting in the car
with a cheese sandwich and a
candy and a drink,
our whole station wagon rolled
quickly off the rocks, right there

sinking under the
surface  with me still inside.
I swam out the door
in the direction  of the
surface, the direction  of

the light from above.
My little legs kicked hard to
save myself, and the
half breath I grabbed just before
going under was getting

stale. Chicken fencing
covered the ocean as far
as I could see or
feel. Only my fingers broke
through the holes. Not even my nose

could make it above
the wrippling water and that
deadly, silent wire.
I watched the sun in KY last
moment, wriggling my fingers

in the air to Mom
and Dad screaming on the shore.
I let go and filled
my little lunge, crying wet
into wet, tears to ocean.

I let go of it
and in doing so, I woke
coughing and crying
and fighting for my last breath
fighting for my little life.

Even then, I knew
this was a message to take
into my life, to
remember when the time came…
Breathe everything in, and fight.

That time came yesterday.

6/26/2022

Escape Poem 1/Hour 1

Escape-Sonnet
By: LuvMiFreely

Today is a stressful day
Mind on overload
Heart completely drained
Nervous system feeling like it’s ready to explode

Looking for a way to calm my nerves
Everyone has a vice
But there’s no need to be concerned
My drug of choice won’t ruin my life 

As a matter of fact, it welcomes me
So clear and translucent
Always willing to set me free
Its comfort always feels heaven sent

Doesn’t matter if it’s flowing from a faucet or provided by the rain
Water will always be my greatest escape 

Float Haiku

Emotions raging

on hope and despair they rise

floating untethered

panic8am

There are moments

where I can’t function

I don’t want to be here

I’m not suicidal-

I just don’t want to

be here anymore

 

I think I could be depressed

What do I know though?

Not a doctor

Lonliness knows my name

knows how much I hurt

 

Not happy-

I just play pretend

What would people think

I they knew- REALLY knew

I just play pretend at being happy

 

Would they care?

Listen?

Change-

Probably not.

 

It’s just a phase-

You’ll be fine

You’re ok

Have you just THOUGHT

about being happy?

 

You think I can just snap

my fingers and be fine?

BELIEVE ME, I’VE TRIED

no dice

 

Maybe drinking would

help me- But I don’t drink

Hurting myself physically

I’m an old hat at doing

But I said I wasn’t going there

anymore

 

It just hurts so badly sometimes

I want someone- anyone to notice

that I’m not ok-

But they don’t notice

I’m on my own

 

Hello? Help me!

I need some help down here

I am on edge and It’s going into

a panic attack.

 

I feel like I am dying

short of breath

achey

crampy

clammy

Oh God help me please

 

Stop

Breathe

Stop

breathe

No

not like that

 

Slow it down

Slow down

slow

Like that.

you’re doing ok

Omen

In flight to Norway
From Nowhere
Bluebird!
You shit your black and white shit
On my white shirt
You spoiling my white shirt
On my way to a white-wedding
Where Iam set to marry White
My white groom
It will be a black&white wedding
Bride white
Groom black
Bride’s name White
Groom’s name Black
Tell me Bluebird
Is this black and white shit
You dropped on my white shirt
On your way to nowhere
Is it a blessing or…
Is it good or bad omen
Is it taboo for black to marry white
Are the the gods happy or angry
Are they blue with joy
Are they blue with anger
Tell me Bluebird
Is this gonna be a black-day
Is this gonna be a white-day
My lovely White
Can’t wait to marry his Black handsome
White Can’t wait to tie the knot
But you Bluebird
Your black and white shit on my white shirt
Is making me blue
It is making me black
Iam nervous
Bluebird!
Are you for me;angel
Are you for me; devil
White-angel or black-devil
Bluebird!
You owe me…

Drowned

Doesn’t it remember you?
The last time it tapped your crown
The first time it rinsed you down
From your birth stool

Why doesn’t it remember you?
The last time you sat for hours
Muddied like it had been your first shower in months

How did it get this cold?
The first time was accompanied by three spirits
The father, his Son and his Holy Spirit
It’s the first time you can’t hear it
The crowd cheering you on

Why doesn’t it heal you anymore?
The faucet might as well be gone
Caked on dirt has set and won
There’s no oxygen for the voice to flow

When water can’t remember no more

1. FLOODS

The still air is resonant

with an expectation.

Waiting, waiting,  waiting for something.

Lightening flashing!

Thunder roaring!

 

…and then the pregnant clouds

bursting with its burden

releases slowly, the first drops of rain splattering.

Within seconds pelting, roaring , flooding.

 

Humans and animals scattering

for safety and shelter.

Pretty petals torn and litter the ground

soiled and washed away with the deluge.

Rivers swell and deposit their residue on the river banks.

Floods . FLOODS.

 

FLOODS

Rain so essential,

yet so dangerous in its destruction.

 

 

 

 

 

A Life in the Day (of the Mayfly)

A Life in the Day (of the Mayfly)

Alight. All burning bright. Alive. Awake.

Like the Damselflies, Dragonflies and Mayflies;

in summer. Some last a couple years,

fewer don’t make it through spring,

even others live for just one day.

In the bog. There on lily pad

nestled atop the bent frond on

the frog pond, I hear a faint sound,

hidden under the gum wrapper blanket,

ensconced is our hero– Charlie, an egg.

Dewy and downy, and covered in soil.

Another mayfly, another mouth at the plate.

Young one fast find your place in this world

Or succumb to the toil.

Fast before she skates

to the other side of the log.

Hey Charlie! Take us on a trip,

even skip across the dish. We wish.

May you get to the other side.

Away with you now Charlie,

you still have time to live,

forget the time to die. Take flight.

Loosen up and have some fun.

You’ll make it through the night!

Hour One, 9am

A Life in the Day (of the Mayfly)

(form/ Acrostic /series 1 of 24)

Charlie the Mayfly.

v.j.calone