No Swimming
Robert
CJ Graves lives with his wife, Emily, in Emporia, KS, where he teaches
general education classes at Flint Hills Technical College. His poetry
has appeared in numerous journals, including Bijou Poetry Review, The Chiron Review, Poetry for the Masses, Prairie Poetry, and Word Salad.
A former bartender and freelance sports writer, Robert holds a PhD in
English from Bowling Green and an MFA in Creative Writing from Wichita
State. This sad poem touches a chord of universality. Don't we all pore
back over our memories of a relationship with someone when we hear that
someone is dead?
No Swimming
By Robert CJ Graves
Our cities of might and gleam soon sink
and reside at the bottom of the next sea.
Her understated obit sinks fists into my chest.
I read backwards through the words looking for meaning.
But her life is folded like a map, careful as a princely deed.
And there's no swimming. Not in these eddies.
But with a breath there is restlessness in the air,
a memory of spring, of fires burning:
running to the flames;
running all the time.
And she was my one oceanic love
curled like a closed bud in my bed.
But I wore a mask to hide the war I waged,
so ambitious, so ready for the next sea:
running for more and more;
running till she fled.
No Swimming
By Robert CJ Graves
Our cities of might and gleam soon sink
and reside at the bottom of the next sea.
Her understated obit sinks fists into my chest.
I read backwards through the words looking for meaning.
But her life is folded like a map, careful as a princely deed.
And there's no swimming. Not in these eddies.
But with a breath there is restlessness in the air,
a memory of spring, of fires burning:
running to the flames;
running all the time.
And she was my one oceanic love
curled like a closed bud in my bed.
But I wore a mask to hide the war I waged,
so ambitious, so ready for the next sea:
running for more and more;
running till she fled.
Posted by Annmarie at 11/20/2009 10:17 PM 
Categories: today's words
Tags: lost love obit death Robert CJ Graves
Categories: today's words
Tags: lost love obit death Robert CJ Graves
Very moving, Robert.
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and, how often we run for more, Robert, until we outrun what we want the most. Thank you for a terrific poem.
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