What David said.
Ahh, the first part..ending with person..;>

Good one, David. Sometimes I look at my own lines and wish I hadn’t written them! How’s that for honest? hee hee

KRAKEN

Once a woman of flesh and bone,
Now doomed to wander the seas alone
Looking for my next meal -
I steal
Creatures of every kind:
Dogs
Cattle
Fish
And even -
And especially -
Men and women
And ingest them into the deep crevice
They call a gut.
But
I was once as fair as that woman
Who I spied today, lashed to a cold rock,
Waiting to be engulfed into nothingness –
But a curse claimed my looks
And I became a monster
Long before this world began.
I swam
Towards the woman,
Who still pulling against her chains,
Her tears mixing with the cold rain,
Was still alive (I usually like my meals warm);
But before I could wrap my tentacles around her
And rejoice at finding my lunch,
She was stolen away by another,
A man whose heart was bowed toward her
By reason of her tears and chains.
Defeated, I swam away -
Sulked away -
Still hungry and
Still holding burning jealous torches in my bosom
For the beauty I once had.

Very cool! Thanks for sharing. I like the story it tells.

whypaisley, thank you! I’ve been hypnotized by mythology since Ms. Brenda read the Tales of Brave Ulysses to us in second grade. I don’t consider myself a brainiac. I know a little about a heck of a lot, but the only thing I know a heck of a lot about is poetry - and that is so relatively little compared to all there is to know. But I try to bring all the archetypes into a context in which many of us can relate. Because, if you can’t relate, then what the hell’s the sense of the poem? Unless the sound and beauty of the words transcend meaning . . .
Seriously, though, most of this is done straight out. I simply reflect on the image without getting my counsious mind in the way. The hardest part is learning to relax the inhibitions that keep the right and left from integrating. And the best way is just a simple Zen posture and about a dozen conscious breaths . . . Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind . . .

Treading Water

When was life calm? Not before we escaped
from everyone around us, their brooding
glances – jealousy ill-hidden in eyes
wild with want and shame and lust for our life.
I wish I could speak to them, let them know
we, too, have our storms unabated, fear
that dances in the pit of our stomachs
hoping to overcome this joy we find
wrapped in the tenuous embrace of love.
Our own Kraken follows us in shadows,
waits to sacrifice us against the rocks –
and we can be swept away in high tide
just as easily as they, but we swim
and tread water, make landfall, and escape.

You are truly as remarkable a poet as you are a person, and as wonderful a woman as you are a poet!

And, I’m grateful to have you as a friend, David. You are a light to all who know you. Your beautiful thoughts and words are an inspiration and magnificent dreamscape to all… Thank you for being who you are, my friend..

Thank you. I just don’t know who else to be
But then . . . I have an extensive list of alteregos . . .