It dawned on me the other night that I
was born by the water, thick brown
afterbirth of motherless Brooklyn and
the thousand thousand memories that
rush three armed and red eyed under bridge after bridge of
our midnights, I still see
myself when I stand on the Carroll St.
overpass, faint and shimmering after all these years
My spirit remains standing motionless and listening,
aching in awe with the
chalk between its fingers and a thousand thousand
memories that rush away with the fog horns and the
falling wind.
I often wonder why I do not write of the shore
why my working girl boots do not hang with the rest of the
helpless and disgruntled in protest over a
telephone pole why they navigate
the skewed cobblestones but can not see the braille meaning
from above, their collective symbolism as a
wavelette that crashes somewhere and caries in a baby bottle or
the fruitless tide.
And I have always been here, skirts bundled at my waist
on Bergen Hill wrestling with myself and freeedom and a
nameless blue eyed Dutch boy, longing to
run with the Canarsie and learning my place a
thousand thousand times and I
I have always been here, it pounds through my blood
like the last blooming thistle that
Sticks in Babylon’s side that calls to me from the
gravel border of a School Bus parking lot and
burns me with its wisdom and years and
nothing can stop us and nothing can touch us and
those who can’t taste our saltwater sweetness
can’t see us and the delicate Land-Locked wish
they could be us and everyone knows
where the current will lead us and
I was born by the water.
I Was Born By The Water
March 1, 2011 by irenethebean
Great writing. Liked it alot
true…
well expressed emotions.
Happy Rally.
🙂
I like the separation of lines that changes the phrasing. Creative.
Born by the water… A gentle touch of what’s written.. 🙂
Your choice of words expressed all..
Here is mine by the way for the Rally.. http://www.tingtasy.com/2011/03/collections-of-tings-poetry-tpmar101.html
Hope to see you around.. 🙂
Oh! Quite brilliant. I felt like I was there, by the water.
love the lyrical quality of your narrative, thanks.
I could picture standing on the Carroll St. overpass, standing by the water, standing on the hill. You painted a memorable picture of Brooklyn and filled the empty spots with your emotions. Very nicely done!
Absolutely gorgeous. I really loved this.
you kept me going through every line… Beautiful.
Enjoyed this muchly.. 🙂
love how you describe everything! my wk 39 is here.. http://fiveloaf.wordpress.com/2009/11/17/regret/
My favourite poem of week 39 so far. You write wonderfully and I feel the water in your soul.
The organic nature of what you wrote is soul deep.
JP
http://tasithoughts.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/and-then-came-the-laughter/
awww as a BK girl, I totally relate to the imagery, the street corners and the message about an island girl, born by the water, lucky to be here and embracing all memories, particulary of where she stands..totally relate 🙂
Happy potluck!
thanks
http://lynnaima.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/x-chasing/
You did a marvelous job here–it came straight from your soul. Quite filled with imagery too.
I’m a fan of the use of the first and last line, I enjoy your poem very much
I really love this. It has such flow, and I feel like the words just came pouring swiftly from your soul.
Awesome emotional vision of your life in Brooklyn! Can really feel the heart in it. I’m a ronx boy myself, but was born in Brooklyn.
The ending of this ties the whole poem together amazingly. Really passionate and powerful!
THIS is the best thing you’ve ever wrote yet. of course excepting the one dedicated to me. but this is even better than them all! I see you miss new-Jazz-Age of the millennium, pounding your way through history books and poetry anthologies of the future. Glad to say I loved you when, babie! <3miaface
awsnapgirl.
I’m gonna heft you over my shoulder and float on our conjoined words over the budding zombie apocolypse to funkytown. Yeah…
very nice 🙂 the mixed structure played to your advantage I think.. cheers.. happy rally!
Excellent Words
this piece
is so profound & wonderful
glad i found u
gotta thank jingle & such
for the excellent blogs
i’ve come across
gonna put u
on my blog list
coming back for more
peace & love
& all that good stuff
este
I loved the fluidity of this poem.
very well expressed .. I wished to be born by the the water too.. and now i wish to live by the water but i don’t have the chance to.
Well expressed..:)
THIS one. just spell check it first. ❤ Mimiface
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