Sunday, April 18, 2010

Still afraid of heights, but... - Day 18 Poem

Cliff Diver

Despite my name, I rarely dream of flight,
more often of falling, into water. I sink
below the surface, look up
towards the shimmering,
wonder if it's reflections
of above or below,
inside or outside,
real or imagined,
past or present,
good or bad,
in or out,
me, or
just
me
p
l
u
n
g
i
n
g
into whatever life offers next.



Today I heard the word "plunge" and immediately I flashed on the cliff divers of Acapulco, which I remember watching on TV when I was younger. I've always been afraid of heights, and was, as a result, totally fascinated by these people that would dive head-first off a cliff into the ocean below. And because of the context of the comment with the word plunge in it, this poem came to mind. The shape was accidental at first, but then I worked with it, something I've done before.

7 comments:

Jo said...

Perfect! That's a beautiful one of those shapey poems, whatever they're called.

Erobintica said...

thanks. I think they're called "concrete" poems, which is pretty damn funny considering this one - good thing it's water I dream about falling into and not concrete.

Mar said...

feel I'm falling a great distance. I love the visual aspect.

Isabel Kerr said...

Fantastic Robin! This is so wonderful. Perfect, that's all I can say. You have done such incredible work at this poem a day. You are to be lauded 30 times over.

xx

Erobintica said...

Thanks Mar - whenever I look at this poem I think of the Grand Canyon Skywalk – I want to do that sometime (I've never seen the GC except from the air) - even though I'm scared to climb a ladder! Go figure.

Isabel - thank you so much!

Anonymous said...

I really like this poem, the visuals are the perfect complement. Nice work Erobintica!

Erobintica said...

Thank you Jacque! Nice to see you here. I see you moved your blog.