Poetry Friday

by

The Deep

By the time they put a name on it

you are already pushing back – black-bottomed

sludge spilling between your toes, sucking deep,

digging in, as you poise to spring clear.

Timing is everything – don’t rush it.

You might only have the will to do it once.

But when you are ready, when it’s right –

and you’ll know it’s right – ignore the fear,

strike out – kick like the devil and fight!

Pull the black weight of it through your fingers

and back, through and back – keep kicking!

It will want to keep you, hold and roll you

back to the deep – there’s nothing to be won

without a fight, nothing worth having.

And you’ve got it in you – I’ve seen it –

bright and waving on the far shore.

Steer by it. It’s calling you home.

Keep kicking! It’s hardest when the light is near;

limbs burn and lungs scream. That’s when the creepers come –

the old ones, the ones that go all the way down

and have known you all along – thick tendrils

curling your thoughts and claiming you.

How many have been lost here, in the clear shoals,

arms outreaching – one kick, one breath from the light?

But not you.

I’ve seen it in you – bright and waving –

and you will too, when I meet you out there

on the far shore.

~ Angela Carr ~

Category : Poetry