18 Feb 19 Song 2: Dis-membered continued

If you read the first segment of this second Song posted on 11 February, you may have noticed the cliffhanger ending. In today’s continuation of the second song that “cliffhanger,” is resolved, and we engage the subsequent freefall that occurs after the word, “Then . . .” Read today’s second segment of “Dis-remembered” to see what’s happening. Imagine yourself in this situation.

One second I am breathing, looking down

The next tick I am sliding, losing breath

dark water rushes - pulls me down into

deeper water streaming – choking - no-breath

turning - grasping – drowning - nothing holding

slow motion blurred shapes under darker gold

and then the tree reaches out and grabs me

pulling me down                                  deeper into water

tangled in branches too deep for him to reach

Deep in the water              Deep in the darkness

Alive                Not breathing                  I can see the stars

Tree opens its mouth and whispers my name

I relax and listen, floating again

as tree tells about the long run to sea

the winds and the storms                 the long sail to be

My black hull cuts deep in the broad-backed sea

Moonlight shimmers, scatters white-crested waves

my body wave-washed and wind at my back,

my breath all exhaled sailing on in black

borderless places -- the star lands of home

forgetting the tether,smallness, and stones

re-membering great winds and great wild unknown

The Darkness                  The Sounding                  long downwind run

Asudden gasping I’m ripped pulled and dragged

out of the sea’s love           and wriggling in air

choking breath spasms and arching toward sky

thrown down yet again              dark, small, but alive

He gathers me up, lays me down, blows air

into me choking on water and air

I thrash and cry as          clear sound fades away

lying broken with him  with him, not of him

pulling away from his warm shore, I lie

rooted, immobile – stone stopped by his hands

gone the fair sea winds –   I don’t understand 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                        I stand outside the white house where I’m fed

                                    standing in yellow grass flat to the sky

                                    sparks in my wet hair from storm just passed by

                        Now raindrops stop and thunder rolls away

                        Leaves slip droplets disturbing brown puddles

                                    mirror my rippling face and the white clouds

                        Like a small lake, the puddles have shores and

water to sail my twig-wood boat while I

                                    make myself small on its long narrow deck 

                        A leaf drops alongside my small brown ship

                                    carrying a blue dragonfly with clear 

rainbow wings sailing just the same as me

                        Side by side we travel, blue dragon and me

                        Sweet air and wide water under our wings 

I can see a map of a distant place

                                    great magic across the blue dragon’s sea

                        This indigo body holds some secrets

If I touch, the wings will carry me there

                        I reach out, caress him ever so light

                        Vibration of wings and quickly takes flight

                        So, I leave the puddle, twig boat aground

                        I look up and see blue dragon flying

                                    into purple sundown skies where I’m not

                        But later at night in dreams I will soar

                                    far away from this grounded place where tongues

                                    of winged dragons unspoken, not known

                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A crow is cawing shrilly overhead 

                                    saying, “Come! Hurry up and follow me!”

                        Her black and rainbow wings flash so fast that

soon she has flown far ahead – when I run 

fast behind and see her settle onto

                                    an apple tree branch and fluff her feathers

                                    She pities poor me, wingless, on the ground.

                        Her black wings bring her where she wants to go

                        So much better than standing here below

                        I walk round the tree thinking how to rise

                                    but the branches are high and no matter 

how I jump and try, the coarse tree bark scrapes 

my tender skin and how to be with her 

I can’t begin to think I cannot fly

                                    so, I slump down on the grass, and she blinks.

                        As I sit still and watch her, I open

and see I am with her, though my body 

can’t be - I’m flying now so easily

                                    Inside my crow’s dark skin, I feel dragon’s 

blue wings spread out dazzling, gossamer thin

Background

This segment contains several early adventures, serious and light, that depend, to a great degree, on imagination. For the most part, it is meant to be light and innocent, with one exception. The role of imagination provides one thread in the narrative arc of the poem, so please don’t take everything at face value. Rather, play with the unusual, and let incidents roll over you in both directions: real and illusory. Yet, who’s to say which is which. Children play with this enigma regularly. Hopefully, if you keep reading this work, you will allow yourself the chance to enlarge and/or revisit this place of paradox.

The water and sailing themes also return in this second song. It’s possible that more revelations will arise by gathering these water images from songs 1 and 2. It is said that all life originated in water. Consider the ramifications this fact may have in this story, as the water images proceed through the narrative.

Exploration 1: What is happening in the last five lines? Is there an alternate reality operative? Is it real?

Exploration 2: This segment addressed the childlike freedom and subsequent exploration of the main character. Is this curiosity normal?

Exploration 3: Note the italics in the first part of this segment. Why are they there and what is happening?

NEXT: Third and final part of Song Two, Dis-membered . . .