River Deep (a poem)

River Deep

Memory flows
a river of time
carrying with it
past and present
remembering
that time
where pain flowed
deeply
lost,
stranded in a river of fear.

Memory floats
a balloon of hope
bobbing
on the river
caught up
in the eddy
pulling inexorably
into its spiralling waters
all memory of time flowing
along the shores
passing by.

Memory calls
from glacial pasts
to silt-slick estuary
river flowing, time passing
pulling me under
I release my grip
on memory's rope
and stand alone
stranded
on shifting sandbars
clogged with memory's
insistence I let go.

Memory shifts
land ends
water retreats
I lose
all sense of time
flowing into the river
I find myself
adrift
cast-off memory
floating past
beyond where time fades
into the sea
of life calling me back
to dance at the water's edge.

I let go
and flow freely
into the river
deep
with longing
for a time
and place
where memory releases
remembering
time past
into the waters
flowing by.


I didn't mean to write a poem today! I only meant to write.

And then, I visited Maureen at Writing without Paper, and read her brilliant poem, Sore Chasing Dreams and Glynn over at Faith, Fiction, Friends and got inspired by his beautiful My Western City Dreaming . And then, L.L. Barkat at Seedlings in Stone inspired me to get involved with Random Acts of Poetry at High Calling Blogs.

Write a picture with words L. L. suggested.... Glynn wrote about an old river town. What makes a river old? What ages its banks? I wondered. Time. Memory. Flowing.

And the words flowed and the poem appeared.

Drop into visit L.L. Barkat and read, How to Write a Poem. Get inspired! And just do it! Who knows what might flow free?