Just Another Similar Post

Slippery Sister

She struck out headstrong
in reaction to criticism
and warning
dug her blades
beneath the surface
with a purpose
and her kayak
floated away
from our resting place.

The going was smooth
for my sister
the socially acceptable sibling
who didn't criticize everyone
for anything
(at least to their faces),
and then it came time to turn around
and paddle back,
and the smoothness of motion
flipped.

She was upside-down
underwater in an instant
and in that instant
my warning of the boat's unsteadiness
made me think
"I told you so,"
while simultaneously I thought
"This is it,
she's going to die."

I could imagine her life
vest pressing her relentlessly
up into the bottom of the boat
while the splash skirt
held her legs cramped
against the blue plastic sides.

She wasn't strong enough
to say things outright
and I wasn't strong enough
to hold my tongue
and she wasn't strong enough to rip the cord
to free herself
but she was slippery
and skinny enough
to wiggle free
as it seemed she always did.

And as her face broke the surface
I wondered if she noticed
her own recklessness
how close she came to death
in my eyes
as the blue bottom of the kayak
floated empty
in the dark water.

Poem:
I'm getting into these poetry books. This one wasn't directly in the style of another author, but I really like the poem "You Can Have It" by Phillip Levine. The exercise associated with the section was about family as inspiration, and it asked me to describe a moment that epitomized a member in my family. So I tried.

Observation:
Yesterday's post reminded me of another example of a universal happy gesture: the high five. If you say something in an excited tone and follow it up with a high five, it completely circumvents any rational comprehension of what you just said. One instance in particular comes to mind. It was my junior year of high school, and the band had to play at the senior's graduation (as we did every year). This was a painful process, and not one any of us looked forward to. Then my grandmother died. I was to be out of town on the weekend of graduation, and when I told my friends, they were pretty jealous. I hadn't mentioned the reason for my absence. One of the ensuing conversations went like this:
Fellow student: I heard you're getting out of playing this weekend.
Me: Yeah! My grandma died so I don't have to play!
At this point I held my hand up for a high five, and was not disappointed. However, the look on the guy's face after he processed what I had said was pretty amusing. The pause and slow change in facial expression from a jealousy-tinged happiness to a slightly sad confusion made me laugh. Then he was sure I had been joking about my grandma dying, which made me laugh more. And then, since nobody could possibly be laughing so much about the death of a relative, he was sure I wasn't telling the truth. So I held up my hand for another high five. By the time he figured out my grandma was actually dead, he was one in quite a state.

Exercise:
"Orange Traffic Cone, etc"
Write a brief scene that incorporates the following: an orange traffic cone; a miniature cat; fried fish; velcro; Teddy Roosevelt; polkadots.

Harold was out on one of his expeditions. He wove his single speed courier bike (purchased second-hand at a rather eccentric man's garage sale) to the other side of an orange traffic cone, skirting the construction and putting him out of the busy traffic. The smell of fried fish wafted from a nearby restaurant's patio, the polkadots on the awning defying any attempt to criticize its menu. Harold pulled up to his destination, a local antiques store, and rang the bell at the glass-topped counter, momentarily distracted by the miniature porcelain cat peering up at him through the shining surface. The owner poked her head out of the back room long enough to ascertain his identity before shouting "be right out Harold!" and disappearing again. Sure enough, in a few seconds she had returned, a thin, stiff folder in her hands.
"Just as you requested. An authenticated letter signed by Teddy Roosevelt from his campaign trail. Should look good with the rest of your collection."
He nodded, undid the velcro on his shoulder bag, and gingerly took the document from her. He placed it inside the large binder contained within, and handed her his credit card.

Me:
I rode my bike outside two days in a row this week! Oh, the excitement. And the cold. Maybe that's what made it exciting. There's nothing quite like wondering whether you still have toes to spice up a bike ride. So anyway, riding was fun. It's nice to see that the hours (albeit fewer than probably advisable) I put in on the trainer haven't been completely in vain. My cadence is improved from last year (at least for now), and while the hills were a bit of a rude awakening after the monotonous landscape of my living room, it was nice to have some variation. And the company was infinitely better than the muted television. It's fun to have an activity the whole family can get into. And with my mom's history as a national record-holder, it's pretty a pretty inspiring crowd to be around, too. All in all, an enjoyable few days on the road.