Posts Tagged ‘nwp’
kmwp luncheon
backup file for “heaven and hell” (video)
Practicing Memoir
Right now, I’m participating in the summer writing institute put on by the local university and we’ve been working on memoir this week. Here’s a draft of three pieces that are meant to be a triptych of sorts.
Swimming Lessons
The thing about remembering is
even if you are securely strapped
to your flotation device, wrapped
in water wings and a life preserver,
having practiced how to breathe,
there is always the possibility
of the unexpected branch
puncturing your buoy,
the slow hiss an advertisement
that your preparations were not enough
to save you.
The thing about remembering is
when you write things down
it gives names to things,
writing into existence a version of truth
that wipes out the careful fiction
you’ve been swimming in
your whole life,
the accidental waves
ripping the beach clean
like a tsunami
so what you see is the bones,
the soaked and swollen
residue of things you thought were buried,
the dead lying in plain sight.
The thing about remembering is
you can’t float and stand at once.
Either the sun is teaching you how to burn,
your heels on the edge of the mirrored universe,
or you are learning how to see through water
the glassy sky a cathedral of light
dripping down to you as the dust around your feet settles,
seaweed and sunfish glancing your calves
as you hold your breath.
