January day, the sun lifting the fog; with layered sweaters and scarf around my neck, I parked the car alongside the road
Taking my pen and paper for my blog, I walked the slight hill of matted grass. Crisp crinkled waves (I want to say wrinkled
like those we used to iron, with frills) gently rocked the sailboats anchored in the small harbor below. Finding a sun-warmed
picnic table I sat there and opened my sack lunch, a Bubba Burger, juicy, all organic, and coffee for the chill. Recently, a
man had fallen from his boat at dusk's hour. Luckily witnesses called 911 and he was rescued, survived - hypothermia
My mind drifted.......those numbers, almost 14 years ago...I recalled reading the story of a woman - the woman whose husband
worked in an office obliterated by the nose of an airplane; no warning, no manner of escape, he chose to die not by fire,
but by jumping. She watched on the news on TV - was it him falling from one of the twin towers, his wrinkled tie waving
from his shirt? Not long after, she became another casualty, committing suicide via carbon monoxide - I tried to imagine her pain,
fleetingly, however, because it was too painful and I pushed it aside. My finger-less gloved hands grow numb; romaine lettuce from
the sandwich falls to the ground - not to worry, a bird will come along. The sun on my face felt so good as I considered
life's various outcomes, billions of stories never written or told, the ordeals that befall us. How hard it is for some to live,
impossible for us to measure on a graph with lines drawn for sun, water, bombs in the air, hearts of gold, whatever matters -
dipping and climbing -and I wondered - just how resilient is the human spirit after all?
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Caught between postings at http://dversepoets.com/ ____Open Link Night yesterday and Meeting the Bar or Form for All tomorrow, not sure where this will fit in and how I will ever catch up as the weekend was filled with grand-kids activities and company. We are today, Thursday, writing
prose poetry as suggested by Sam Peralta who is busy writing his novel, Labyrinth Man.
it is...because we shoulder on...i wonder how it is so resilient for all that we go through at times.....that last stanza really struck home for me kkkaty...that and her becoming yet another casualty.....
ReplyDeleteresilient part of the human race sometimes amazes.... but then you question it when something happens you can't comprehend... we are a complicated lot just like snowflakes... no two the same...
ReplyDeleteI especially liked your close - we are beyond fragile and transcend resiliancy
ReplyDeletethank you..
DeleteSome human spirits are more resilient than others - that is the salient reality.
ReplyDeleteShoulder on through life: a poignant story with a moral is contained in this prose poem.
ReplyDeleteSo much distractions that can whisk away one's attention to happenings of the past.But life must go on! Wonderful write Cathy!
ReplyDeleteHank
I do love the way you write Katy, excellent prose poem very engaging throughout.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Michael..I checked your blog and it seems you are not writing now? Just curious about your "Empty Thoughts"
DeleteThis is another beautiful write, each time I read you ~ I feel at peace, serene. A poignant write and long may we be resilient. Thank you.
ReplyDelete..thank you for the kind compliment
DeleteFrom time to time we get distracted not by what surrounds us but by our own maliscious consciousness and sometimes it leads us to self-destruction. That hanging question is one I've always asked to myself too.
ReplyDeleteI love the diary-like entry and can imagine you sitting there with your notebook and musing/communing with nature. As for the resilience thing, I'm the worst person to ask, as on some days it takes all my effort to crawl out and about. But I suppose we never know for sure how resilient we are until the situation demands it.
ReplyDeleteI like you reflective prose poem, Katy! Resilience is indeed very mysterious. Some people are much better at it than others. Will we ever know why?
ReplyDeleteVery touching. My wife and I were on our honeymoon when the twin towers fell - an interesting juxtaposition for us...the joy of newlyweds and the horror or the terrorism. Prose poetry worked very well for you in this piece!
ReplyDeleteOh that must have been devastating news....I have friends who were in Spain, but not newlyweds. I hope it doesn't cloud your fond memories of the happy honeymoon..and thanks
Deletewow - that is a thought provoking write... sometimes things happen that we think we cannot possibly survive - sometimes we do and are much stronger than we think we are - some things break us to the bones of our existence
ReplyDeleteThe gentle tone in your writing put beauty into the disastrous events befalling the double victim case of twin-towers..
ReplyDeleteLife definitely does have various outcomes. Some we choose for ourselves, and some are...let's say...fate. You really wrote vividly here, Katy.
ReplyDeleteThe affects of traumatic events so often roll down the generations
ReplyDeleteKaty, I like the impact of your stream of consciousness writing, the wrinkles and your descriptions. The references to 911 are heart rending. I can't imagine witnessing a loved one plunging to his death. It's bad enough when someone unknown.
ReplyDeleteThank you Victoria, I seem to write better that way...
ReplyDeletei suppose the will to survive..is the greatest strength of all animals..including humans..and i guess the secret may be acceptance..and not hating..whatever IS IS..
ReplyDeleteAnd no that's certainly not easy..
But a choice not to survive..
As i so unfortunately AND fortunately know..
from distant past..
Is not usually in the bigger cards of life..
No matter what adversity may bring..
And then there is the possibility..of overcoming..
and seeing adversity...as the greatest friend..one never knew
they had..at the peak of their greatest challenge or challenges
in life..
And then i think..once that enemy is tamed..there IS no longer
fear of simply living..not unlike our animal friends..who only live
the will to survive...
Perhaps we don't need labels? I enjoyed reading!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely beautiful. So introspective, filled with compassion. I love all the details - like the lettuce falling to the ground. I enjoyed it immensely.
ReplyDeleteThe wrinkles here like lines of poetry where one must read between to unfold the meaning - here the universal meaning of life, the puzzles of complexity, the ignorance of why one lives, one dies, and another chooses to die rather than live, or live rather than die. They are wrinkles as though the universe curls around itself in a way not understood by three dimension but rather four - ever curling in and out showing only parts of itself. This is a well written and well thought out poem. Very fine indeed.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly right...underneath it all - great minds cannot answer that either.....thank you for the great compliment!
DeleteHi Kkkaty- I love the description of the water as wrinkled needing to be ironed--this is really like the wrinkles of one's thoughts. I have lived most of the last many years in NYC and was downtown 9/11, so the pain of this quite palpable for me. K.
ReplyDeleteThanks, k, nice to have you present the prompt today...
Deletea mixture of various feelings:)
ReplyDelete