July 14, 1990
I escaped death, by drowning, through the keyhole in the water.
The day prior, I had randomly picked up a small thin book and flipped open to a page.
Number 14, I remember vividly. It gave a tip. "How to Save Yourself from Drowning," a diagram with the illustration of an old skeleton key and a doorway, like to Heaven.
I had never learnt to swim. Certainly not in peer pressure...
Tomorrow my best friend was turning 10. Her father had given her a letter N stuffie, for Nicole, and a birthday party at the lake. A green murky bottomless basin.
Too yucky for you? Pale skin blushing in the sun.
"Can your feet touch the ground?!"
Yes, yes, they can. Jump in, the water is fine!
"Jump in. Jump in. Jump in. Jump in..."
And in, there, too green.
Not coward, nor prudent
Not being able to swim..!
Not wanting to jump out of Life.
No one believing, in not floating up;
Eyes open, one foot under and sinking,
Time stops but the heart is still ticking,
I've no instinct except to Think: I am Going to Die.
My ears are deafening with liquid, and lungs are screaming.
I remember the keyhole and draw its potent shape in the water.
Propelled immediately like by magic string, gasping, to the surface, breathing!
It must have been way down dark to cause such a panic on their helpless small faces.
Five of us in the water and no one to save us. Children God bless the handle on the floaty.
They haul me to the rocky edge, where Mr. Falanga is in horror holding out a hairy hand.
Hoisted to a towel. Puking water on dry land.
This is how I escaped, death, by drowning.
Through the keyhole in the water.
06.28.2023
Birthdays & Getting Older challenge @Melpomene
Insanity Runs...
I can't tell the number of times I have broken into my own home, my car even.
It's a theme, to be as if always on the outside, missing something. Denied entry.
Hah perhaps, even Death will not let me in...!
Regardless, it is the stuff of nightmares.
Doors that don't open. There was something fundamental in the build of the home, the warp of the heartwood that must have started it all. I suppose it was a twisted love, doomed for downfall at inception. The story of unevenly matched souls, a skewed give and take that does not reciprocate, which gravitates in one direction-- a cliched precipitous decline. And hence, the doors and windows, ill-fitted, shutting in on themselves, and admitting neither entrance nor exit. Construction of the house, a wedding present.
I will skip the family history, save to say, that everyone but me escaped and "moved on." Mother had tried to poison Father; but pleaded mental debility and was spared jail time and disappeared into the country. Father died of mysterious illness. Later. Years passed. With neither love nor money, the property continued to rot.
And there was I, trying to make the best of it. There in the white decaying house on the hill, in the proverbial middle of nowhere, always looking over the shoulder...
when the inevitable happened.
I had returned from work, parked the car at the top of the deathly steep drive and lodged the wedge behind the rear wheel as we have always done, as a precaution, ever since one car spontaneously rolled, in reverse, with the family dog inside... As a side note, the two-car garage door was jammed for years now, only operable from the inside.
The front staircase, once impressive in its majestic climb, was now like the toothless grin of a pauper begging for sustenance and looked upon only with pity. Maybe two or three steps still dangled. Climbing was strongly prohibited. And in tragicomedy this was the only door that easily opened and shut. With a squealing laugh of the hinges.
No, to enter the house, routinely, one must go to the rear entrance. It was a steady uphill climb. The rest of the structure matched the stairs. A grand expansive design, and there was no way to see what lie around the bend of the many corners of the structure. Walking around back never failed to elicit heart palpitations for the potential of unwanted human or animal encounters. Or whatever might be lurking...
It was on one such occasion that I was a little off guard, that it finally happened. Turning the corner, I could see a black bear descending the hill. I can't reasonably estimate the distance by feet, noting the illusion of the slope itself, which makes things seem closer than they really are. I guesstimated that I had maybe five or seven minutes, depending on speed and interest.
Heart now pounding, I ran up the three steps of the back porch and tried my luck. The door of course refused to unlock!
Terrified, I realized had one last shot. I climbed up over and down the side rail and dashed to the kitchen side entrance, where there was a sliding glass door. It also was decrepit and unreliable. Sometimes, it could be pulled, if you knew how and the catch on the inside could be pushed down with a pen or stick or knife, from the outside... I was desperate and having a pair of scissors in my workbag, I fumbled and pried my luck.
Yes, I was able to crack the door back just enough... and wedge the blade through... and force it down. Sweating and terrified glancing over to the left, expecting a dark form at any moment lumbering around the side...
Open. Open. Please open. The task was now to lift the heavy glass door up and hoist it backward, because of course it no long slid as it should on its original gliders but had to be manually raised and forced open. Please lift. A little more. Please. please! I was able to manage 5 maybe inches, just enough of gap to get my face through... and as they say, if you can get your head through the rest of the average body should also be able to pass through... I wiggled, compressed and shifted my body, and held my breath to cave my chest. Like giving birth to an adolescent.
I made it inside; now the task was to shut the god forsaken door.
It would not budge.
Not a millimeter. Maybe adrenaline had run out. No one could likely get through 5 inches but still I fought for it like life depended on it... Ugh. Yank, I heaved, pulling up and towards myself. Finally, it lunged forward, and I quickly clasped the latch.
Whew. I slid to the floor. Heart pounding. Lungs hurting. Suppressing tears.
Such relief! for I instinctively felt that I needed to be... locked up.
For safety.
We know perfectly well that bears do not attack people.
Unprovoked.
Picking the Locke
I pick
Exile !
for I must
enter in-
to form &
Experience...
the where to where
& whether Twas
long or short...?
...what character
strength or flaw
broke the Key...
who betrayed
our Hero !
& what the
mortal saved
...from dark
to Grace &
with what
Expression,
at or below
the surface
was that
body or
its work
traced?
06.23.2023
Judging by the Title challenge @Celeben
At the Fountain
I've always been
oasis
to somebody
I believe.
it's why Fate
created us.
But I hear the
tossing of a penny
asking so very
plainly in
its internal
rotation:
Has the well spring
lost its source...?
...listening for
the drop not
forthcoming...
Has the fountainhead
crumbled down
to lesser stature?
while we've gotten
somehow smaller.
alas no, I am sure.
We have only
gained ground,
to cover.
06.22.2023
Oasis fountain stream challenge @idunowhodude
Obsess...
I'm trying hard
...not to obsess
about this...
I'm trying hard
...not to obsess
about that...
I'm trying hard
...not to obsess
about me...
I'm trying hard
...not to obsess
about you...
aii I'm obsessive
...and what's an
obsessor to do...?
06.22.2023
Something about obsession/being obsessed challenge @Melpomene
Repost of Readers Favorite
7v7 in Words
July 24, 2020 • 54 reads
Tired Old Phrases
Iloveyou sat in a slump
next to Ihate and Ilike
Ourfreedom wavered in the wind
while Allelujahallelujah sang
a silent hymn
Goodfornothing sat
as Everyone-Else looked
over a shoulder and
Gogetter took off
with Whatever, and laughed
Selfmade could hardly stand
and Ican’t wrinkled up
an already wrinkled brow
but no one was so tired out
as You and Youare
07.24.2020
Tired Old Phrases challenge @Last
S
... I
believe
in Soul
in which
I draw our
attentions,
to the very S
as in pluribus...
multus tumultuous
that signifies an uS
in an equilibrium
as such Ssssss's
in our balances
top and bottom
heading off
in opposite
but equal
directions
with this
sensuous
central
swerve
that
links
uS
all
up
~
06.20.2023
We Became Each Other's Soulmates challenge @DanPhantom123
( Dear Sir )
I picture the neck,
with collar and tie,
the squared shoulders
in proud carriage,
conviction and
courage...
The sparks
in Artic
eyes...
He knew me
not just as
a child;
and loved me
like no
other
Kin,
because
only I could
stand his
Criticisms,
without anger.
Yes, i cried;
and what
Man
can handle
hot water
between his
hands..?!
...it always
comes down
to the facts:
He was a
(com)passionate
one...
who kept
his i-love-you-s
in notebooks
of plans.
On every page
the names
of Us...
carved
with
sharpness
of tongue
to remind,
only how!
We should
know-better,
by Now...
wrapped up
in a hug.
In other words,
in dimmed hopes
and espressos,
in Dreams...
night walks,
and cigarette
smoke,
that he
blew...
in rings
as halos
for our
Magic...
of Being.
Dear Father challenge @EvolucijaSvesti
06.18.2023
Loveache,
if your heart feels
Heavy. . . . . . .
and toooooo BIG
for the chest
( (( within ))) )
then it must be
very, Very, FULL!
And if, you feelll
a squeeeeeeeeze,
in the center of
your being
and nary a drop .
more comes clean
upon the breast,
Then you can
be sure you've
Given,
EVERYTHING
.
06.15.2023
Heartache challenge @MorganFaith