poem: Salinity

poem: Salinity

A Chapter by Marie Anzalone

Your muscles are laid out,

under my palms

ridges and furrows,

sleek cords and planes

geometry of life, trigonometry of the heart,

tangential to unpsoken currents

 running

like lunar cycles in the tides of veins

so long accustomed to thinking

 there really never was

salt in their liquid, that we almost, but maybe

not quite, even believed it

ourselves.

 

We each give according

to ways of means

of giving and receiving,

 ingrained in us almost

since birth and only then challenged

by so very

few but oh how precious could be those few.

If only...

 we thought to value the taste

of that salt.

 

And I wonder if you know

 how much I long to take

the ocean in my mouth while I glide my knuckles

across your smooth mocha-toned  deltoids,

knowing

that this is the extent of giving

you will accept

from me now,

so I lock into you and remember

the feeling of sunlight on blue salted waters.

 

I talk with my hands

what I cannot tell you with

my mouth-

that if I could, I would:

take all your

pain and dismantle it at once,

 I would ingest

your fears of life and tell you, find passion.

Go

find it somewhere, anywhere.

Take a trip, take

a chance, take a drink,

but please for the sake of

all that is good go out and LIVE-

love the wrong

woman

 or maybe even love the right one

for once.

 

Start something small and precious,

and guard it and

call it your own,

tell everyone else this is yours,

hands off.

Take my ocean and put some in a cup

and

drink it dry, stirred, shaken; does it really matter?

just

take this, what I give, and run away with it.

 Or invite me.

Your veins need salt

like a drowning man needs air. Take

my energy now into your spine.

And please, go visit the 

sea and stare at it

and really just for the first time in

your life 

remember that you too are a child

of the big water.

 

 

 

 

 



© 2013 Marie Anzalone


My Review

Would you like to review this Chapter?
Login | Register




Featured Review

I liked the way you moved, from the first stanza's repeated references to mathematics (the science of delineating or measuring reality) to ACTUAL reality, as a function of the life-giving sea (btw, have you read Ellen Hammond's "The Sea of Life"? No? Do so!) In the math stanza, I believe "chords" would be the better rendering, given the context.
Phrases like "mocha deltoids" are open to misapplication (despite their loveliness), and I thought at first you might be creating a metaphor for the soil and its fruit that you so love, but I decided soon after that you were referencing an unhappy..shall we say, friend?...and counseling him to seek solace through a return to The Source. Wise counsel, lovingly and beautifully given.

This review was written for a previous version of this writing

Posted 11 Years Ago


2 of 2 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

thnaks, mark... I worked witht he form and wording a little, hope it is an improvement. I will look .. read more



Reviews

Tides, the oceans wishes through the body. Waves of love, of promise and of intention. This is a remarkable write. It covers as an ocean covers, distance, form and a multitude of emotion. I feel one of your best from the pieces that I have read. Complete unto itself it nevertheless shines across vast areas. As I say remarkable.

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

Thanks for your kind and insightful words, Ken. As always your reviews speak of your ability to delv.. read more
A great write indeed, love your imaginary and your style....good job

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

Thank you for your words, Nick. I appreciate you taking the time to stop by.
I read this several times, over the past couple of days before laying down this comment. I took your flowing images with me and ruminated on them. You have in more than a few of your poems used your knowledge (which dare I say is, profound) to bring alive these powerful analogies; percolating with vivid metaphors and encased inside logical detailed descriptions. But what really stands out is there is never the loss of soul when you inject the science––––but the contrary, it enlarges it. Splits it open... Salinity, your title. That We are composed of almost the same ratio of salinity as the sea has always been telling to me. My science courses merge with my own spiritual beliefs and it becomes all too clear. The ''Ocean'' is our mother, and we are drawn to her. She has the power to heal She wants to heal. This for me comes alive from the third verse on: The good siren, who calls my name. And in that last stanza the ''energy" created by this poem (the electro/conductivity of Your sea) builds into a crescendo, and gets funneled directly into those last two verses... a sublime piece, Raquelita



Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

It is said that the Pacific Ocean holds no memories; people go to her to forget what they do not not.. read more
the edit demonstrates ebb and flow, ebb and flow, of the sea, of sensuality. nice work!


Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

Thanks, Mary... I was trying for soemthing new in form, but I guess settled back into tried and true.. read more
I think it's very beautiful, I see nothing wrong with the stanzas, but then I am certainly not a critic of any means, I just enjoy reading what I think is great, and I think this is great.

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

Thanks for your words, Scorpio. I checked out your work and was very impressed; please expect some r.. read more
Wow, Marie. the saltiness IS the physical, perhaps psychic connection. I love the progression of this poem- mathematics to physiology to passion to our universal connection, and all that it entails, to longing for this realization in another.

This review was written for a previous version of this writing

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

thanks, Mary... yes, I was going for progression; such is often these days the nature of my thoughts.. read more
I liked the way you moved, from the first stanza's repeated references to mathematics (the science of delineating or measuring reality) to ACTUAL reality, as a function of the life-giving sea (btw, have you read Ellen Hammond's "The Sea of Life"? No? Do so!) In the math stanza, I believe "chords" would be the better rendering, given the context.
Phrases like "mocha deltoids" are open to misapplication (despite their loveliness), and I thought at first you might be creating a metaphor for the soil and its fruit that you so love, but I decided soon after that you were referencing an unhappy..shall we say, friend?...and counseling him to seek solace through a return to The Source. Wise counsel, lovingly and beautifully given.

This review was written for a previous version of this writing

Posted 11 Years Ago


2 of 2 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

thnaks, mark... I worked witht he form and wording a little, hope it is an improvement. I will look .. read more
Another very well written piece, Marie. An honestly plea, and very well crafted.

My only critique of this one is that your stanzas are cumbersome in form. They are long and broad, which makes them feel more like prose. You might play with the form a bit.

The imagery is wonderful, however, and we can feel your desperate attempt to convey your wishes and desires for your charge to go out and LIVE.

This review was written for a previous version of this writing

Posted 11 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Marie Anzalone

11 Years Ago

Yes.. I played with the form, since I could not get it to do what I wanted... it is now more like my.. read more

Share This
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Request Read Request
Add to Library My Library
Subscribe Subscribe


Stats

847 Views
8 Reviews
Rating
Shelved in 1 Library
Added on February 9, 2013
Last Updated on April 1, 2013
Previous Versions

Peregrinating North-South Compass Points


Author

Marie Anzalone
Marie Anzalone

Xecaracoj, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala



About
Bilingual (English and Spanish) poet, essayist, novelist, grant writer, editor, and technical writer working in Central America. "A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to ta.. more..

Writing

Related Writing

People who liked this story also liked..