Reflected in the Water

     From lifewithelise.blogspot.com

I have always loved water;

grew up on the border

where land and river meet.

I delighted  

in water sounds,

in its feel, cool and smooth,

in things living

in the shallows and depths,

and the off-chance

of spotting a water sprite.

I’m not a strong swimmer

 anymore,

living inland

and growing old.

But I still love the river

and I am not afraid of drowning,

so why do I just keep treading water?

 This is for dVerse where we were asked for some kind of self-portrait.  Check it out, the examples given really helped shaped what I came up with.  Also for PAD and NaPoWriMo Day 18.

We Cling to the Familiar

     Image: People in Trees by Mikola Gnisyuk vis Baibakov Art Projects

We cling to the familiar,

to what we know,

long after we know

it no longer serves us,

no longer is true.

We cling to the familiar,

because we have done this

for so long,

to pry our fingers away is painful.

Our hands are adhered,

seared to the surface

of the obsolete.

And in tearing them away

we leave

raw, bloody layers

of ourselves 
behind.

We cling to the familiar,

because we do not know

what else to cling to,

and the thought

of empty hands,

of free falling,

with nothing to hold on to

terrifies us.

We cling to the familiar,

because we know it,

because imagining something else,

something new,

is hard,

and we are lazy.

We resist when we can simply cling

to the familiar.

So we do.

We cling to the familiar

long after

it has become
absurd.

This is for the November PAD (Poem a Day).  The image is a prompt from Robert Brewer at Writers Digest.  Click on the link and check it out.