Perimortem
Dying beside your folding kayak
After four good hours on the bay
You finally felt your thoughts collect
Then pump frantically away.
Your blood pooled inside your mind
A mind so fine all ideas violated it
A mind for the last time
Immersed in thought.
Thought about the water, the dock, the history
Of your wanting to live near a bay,
Your wanting islands in a bay.
A settlement off the coast of Washington.
You always kicked things to the next level.
Thoughts about thoughts about thoughts.
A kind of cerebral prinking, it seemed to me.
Now you can barely take in the gray plank
By your head. The shaking hand
Of your companion, cupping your neck.
November 29th, 2012 at 3:32PM
Nice. Not the situation, of course (though there are worse ways to go; it sounds hardest on the companion), but the expression.
November 29th, 2012 at 3:57PM
Contingent Cassandra: Many thanks.
November 30th, 2012 at 4:33PM
I just chanced to look at your site today and saw your poignant poem, which is presumably about our Kayaksky.
Lisa
December 1st, 2012 at 2:42PM
I also saw this, and Lisa sent me a copy as well. Very moving. I didn’t realize the first time I read it that it was yours
Janet
December 15th, 2012 at 12:14AM
Today I found your space by chance. And to read this poem about the craving (your wanting to live near a bay,
Your wanting islands in a bay.) and the cold(Now you can barely take in the gray plank)! It freezes a moment while exploring the phrase life passing before your eyes.
Kushal Poddar
http://www.udemy.com/u/kushalpoddar/