I prefer water over air.
Before my parents divorced,
I was kept alive in my mother's womb by water
before air even made a home in my lungs.
I was born and baptized in water,
water that the Catholic church labels as pure,
pure like the tears of joy
that ran down the faces of my parents
on their wedding day.

Growing up, I told them
I wanted to be an astronaut
so they took me to the community pool
and I was almost convinced
I was floating in space,
but I could still hear their rings
clanking though the water.

Water kept the flowers alive in my mom's backyard
and provided something to wash my dad's dog with
Water brought him back when he went overseas
and water was the only thing
that could short-circuit his phone,
where the text messages were sent through air.

You see, air gives the privilege of flying away,
air passes through my dad's lips
when he whistles a song I don't hear anymore,
it gives him the voice to say, "I love you"
to his new family.

My fondness of water grows from
seeing old family beach photos,
the ocean is captured like the smiles on their faces,
air isn't visible
Water makes the sky blue
the same sky that ties together our broken family
It keeps the wetness in my mouth
so I can pronunciate the words
"mommy" and "daddy"
Water makes me float in zero gravity like
their astronaut again
Water is the familiarity
in the old pipes of our house
Water is mixed into the church wine
we went to on Sunday's.

It was my mom's safe substitute for alcohol
when my dad left.  
Water quenched our family,
but I guess
drowned my dad.

I'm perfectly fine
spewing my gutteral English,
but guys can dream.
How I'd love to speak nasally,
pronunciate just a bit
of high-Francaise.

Bonjour.

******!

You wait for a word from me,
Sadly, I know,
If I pronunciate it,
I won't see sun's lucent anymore.

For your egocentric nature,
For your selfish denials,
I will remain silent,
And calm will remain.

Pronunciate, predominate, preponderate, prevaricate,

Precipitate, pontificate, pomegranate, postulate –

Problem?

Do not attempt to look these words up!

That dictionary shouldn’t be w-i-d-e open like your mouth

Or can’t you handle multi-syllabic lexis?

I thought you were TOUGH, MIGHTY and STRONG

Yet lower,

Lower,

Down into the ground

A million thoughts lay scattered, here, there and everywhere

WAIT A MINUTE

I thought you were INVINCIBLE and POWERFUL

So HARD that you could DEFEAT anything that came your way

I THOUGHT YOU COULD RUN AND hide

Why, this room is as LOUD as s-i-l-e-n-c-e

I see that your friends aren’t with you now

What happened to your BIG mouth! Cat got your tongue?

But when your friends are around

Your tongue can’t resist a good workout

Up, down, t-w-i-r-l it a-r-o-u-n-d

I thought that Audacious was your middle name

Oh, here comes Georgia Giraffe.  Cat got your tongue again?

The old YOU jumps out and reveals itself

When YOU LOOK down AT PEOPLE

Those known as the vulnerable

So why is it that when people LOOK down AT YOU

You put on a mask?

Such an innocent and friendly face!

Scared now?  Met your match?

I thought that if you had a pound for every fight you had won

Every human alive would be penniless

Silly sausage!  Oh, sorry!  Offended?

Truth hurt?  Are you a victim?

Well, imagine what it feels like to be a victim!

Where the world is an e-v-e-r-l-a-s-t-i-n-g nightmare

Look here, look there, but there is no escape route

I-m-a-g-i-n-e what it feels like to want to t-u-r-n back the clocks

Where you can never see the shine

If it isn’t too much of a HARD task, then

Bully, OH bully



-Imagine-



Written by Geraldine Taylor ©