You were born that spring
When the city oozed water
From every crack and pore
Like a soggy sponge.
Unending rain drenched the city
Dissolving its hard lines and solid shapes.
It seemed to soften and spread,
Melting into the landscape,
As if searching for a form
To fit the flooding waters.
So my body stretched and spread,
Shaping itself to your fluid form.
My swollen ankles, like sneakers soaked
With memories of splashed puddles,
Squished as I crossed the carpet
To the window to watch the street below.
Bright umbrellas bobbed like gumdrops
Caught in a rushing current.
At night, streetlamps lit the wet streets
With white shadows that flickered
Like billowing sails on a concrete ocean.
I cradled my swollen belly
Where you rocked in an inland sea,
Watching from the window,
Waiting for the storm to break,
Waiting for a signal,
Waiting for you to sail
From your watery world to mine.
Susan Matthewson
Copyright 1996
I LOVE this poem. I love all your poems! Your teacher must be in heaven with a pupil like you! If I were still teaching, I could use this poem to teach so much. I love your images which are bright and clear and evoke feelings and thoughts in my own memory. Your phrasing makes speaking the poem so lovely to the tongue (I just read it to one of my Cape Cod buddies - who also thoroughly enjoyed the poem).
ReplyDeleteKeep writing and sharing your work Susan. It's fabulous dahling! :)
Love this! You are an amazing poet, Miss Susan. The images are so vivid, so spot on, so evocative. Keep the poems coming!
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely brilliant! You are a wonderful poet. I see the 1996 copyright -- how many of these fabulous poems are hiding in a drawer? I'm so glad we have Tasty Sauce so you can share them with all of us!
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