Thursday, June 3, 2010

Welcome Back


I don’t know what I expected
having thoughtlessly selected
dusty bottles stuffed with notes
I can scare recall I wrote

from some long ago of shore
tossed them out into the roar
of the ocean, pitiless,
to the whim of her caress -

but she is a funny thing
cannot help herself but bring
souvenirs up from the sand
bits of secrets in her hand

and she giggles at my wonder;
I may break it, pull it under,
deep as darkness if I spurn it;
then again, I might return it.

7 comments:

Karen said...

Joaquin, your poetry always delights me for its wit and wording. I love the metaphor here and the personality of the personified sea.

Sarah Hina said...

The past is an ocean, still churning, still surprising us. Whenever we think we've put it behind, it throws another bottle onto the shore. And we cannot help but read and rediscover anew.

I, like Karen, loved the metaphor here. And the last stanza captures the dark currents of any mysterious force or undertow. Perfect.

(The music, of course, is amazing. And apt. Thank you for another great find.)

RachelW said...

Frivolous and deep; it's so true! This reminds me of old diaries, filled with long-forgotten pinings.

(Ps. I love your troll haiku!) :)

catvibe said...

Love this one AND the punctuation poems. What a delight you are Joaquin.

joaquin carvel said...

karen - thank you. i'm glad - the delight is mutual. :)

sarah - yes - it is surprising - especially in how it seems to change depending on where you are in the present. thank you. glad you like tyler, too - a little outside the box but i think he's fantastic.

rachel - old diaries - love that! thank you. (couldn't resist - trolls are just misunderstood.)

cat - thank you - always delighted to see you!

Aniket Thakkar said...

Oh it surely brings souvenirs and secrets! Sometimes we like them, sometimes we don't.

(I once found a marine divers knife in the ocean with thigh strap and all. I was just 8. It was my most treasured possession. Full of mysteries and wonder - the ocean is.)

Julie said...

This one takes me back to childhood memories. We actually did the note in the bottle thing. We were silly kids, but it was fun to dream about who might find our words. Blogging is sort of like that, isn't it?

Yes, the metaphor is beautiful. If you're being tongue in cheek about the older poems you posted while you were away, I gotta say...I loved each and every one of them...as I love this one. It's so good to see you again!