Observations of a North Carolina Lake: A Poem Series

Early evening:

A sailboat drifts across the lake
Like a solitary puff of cloud
It cuts through ripples in the water that are
Like a million tiny sand dunes
As it floats under the peaceful blue sky so it looks just
Like a painting

4 o'clock or so

Red ants scale my feet, which must looks like mountains
As they rest against the warm, coffee-colored boat dock
The lake moves in a thousand directions
Yet somehow it is still

Half an hour later

An idle motor boat slides by me
Not thirty yards away
A party of angelic aristocrats sit inside
And chuckle at some tasteless joke
But a girl, clad in black, sits
On the boat's nose, in the sunlight
She's in her late teens, with sandy hair
Flying behind her like a flame in the wind
I see the sky reflect in her eyes
And I want to wave, shout, swim after her
But I also know that I fall in love with every girl I see
Sitting on the nose of a boat in the sunlight
And it strikes me as I watch her
That she's probably a bitch

Around 6 o'clock

As my skin breathes the cool air
The water tickles my feet
I sit on the rocks on the lakeside
And look into the sky
Where the clouds tell stories

Before Breakfast

Wiping the silver orbs of sleep from my eyes
I suck the dew drops off my lips
And steal a glance at the lake through the window
It's been singing while I slept, you know
And drinking in the quiet whispers of my dreams

Morning Swim

We leap off the boat dock like birds
And shatter against the lake like ice sculptures
I look up at the sky and smile as I see
Where the strawberry lips of dawn
Kissed the faintly yellow sky
Swimming is so wonderful
Strange to think that you can stand up
Without your feet touching the ground
Although I imagine that that's the case
More often than we think

The Lake at Noon

The risen sun burns holes into the lake
And the solid wall of trees bend over
To look at their smoky reflections in the water
There's a whole world to be found behind a mirror
And there is one beneath the lake surface as well

Evening Swim

The setting sun sets off fireworks in the sky
Oceans of color above our heads
The lamps ignite on the lake side
And locusts screech their melodies
Red, orange, and purple waves lap at our skin
My brother says it feels just like
Swimming in the sunset

An Hour Before Noon

The air rustles like dry leaves
As we wade into the hot, shallow water
Where the lake is golden
Sand settles on top of our feet
So that our legs look like ancient statues

After a Storm

The rain has found cracks to settle into
And sunlight peeks through the clouds
The cool, moist air has suddenly become self-conscious
And everything feels so much more real
Richer and fuller and healthier
Looking at the mountains kneeling in the distance
Almost like gods
And hearing the slap of the lake against the bank
I can't help but
Feel infinite

Midnight Swim

You and I plunge into the black water
And it's as though we're swimming in the night sky
Fragments of stars glinting on the surface
We are both the sun and the rings of ripples around us
Are the maps of our orbit
The tiny glass bubbles floating on them
Are the atmospheres of little planets
As you glide over to me like a shooting star, smiling
Your pale body so ghostly under the water
As you kiss me, floating there in the night sky
I know that I am where I'm supposed to be



This fortnight's Blog of Specialness would have to be Lemons Don't Make Lemonade which can be found, as usual, on the top of the page. It's delightfully lewd, and I think you'll find it amusing. I can only hope to one day grow up to be like her.

Massaging my temples,
Christopher