sprinkle sensation

there is something about the sprinkler...
that moving liquid force field
melting all that goes before it...

there is something vaguely hi-tech about
the precise individual streams of water
like an arched web of laser beams

i always saw the sheet of water
as portal to be passed through
into another fantastic world
the electric tingle of matter displacement
as water slices through skin

of all the countless worlds i slipped into and back,
how can i know that i ended up where i started off?

sketchy selections 16

i was sprinkling a blank notebook with inspirational quotes i've
collected over the years for my sister's graduation present
and all i could think is how much of an inspiration she has been to me
as someone who unwaveringly pursues her goals, as someone who
puts herself out there and grasps any experience she can get...
truly as "one who seizes possibilities"

uprising

drafting the blueprints for a complex endeavor,
a fantastic structure rising triumphant from
the shell of my idle body, shoving doubts away as it unfolds.
measurements warp and writhe under pressure,
ideas & pictures forged out of white hot heat
meld into the foundation's framework...

i have seen glimpses of the final structure.
its hallways are strangely familiar,
yet i awkwardly fumble about between its walls
as surfaces reach out to my touch...
the space knows me but i still have a ways to go
before i can confidently occupy my vision.

the terrible Under Toad

just started re-reading the world according to garp by john irving
while not my favorite of irving's books, it still packs some of the most memorable scenes and symbols, one of my favorites being the Under Toad.

the Under Toad is a really creepy notion that was born out of a simple miscommunication between a child and his parents. at the beach, this child was constantly warned by his parents to beware of the undertow, which was warped and twisted into this terrifying creature...

 "Garp...realized that all these years Walt had been dreading a
giant toad, lurking offshore, waiting to suck him under and drag
him out to sea. The terrible Under Toad."

this wonderful fictional misunderstanding reminds me of one
of my own... when i was growing up, there was this family that
lived two doors down from us, they were a young family with
2 young kids. these people were very pure and health conscious,
and maybe even vegetarian. but all of this was insanely foreign
to me as a child. so when they would offer their son this strange,
squishy white substance they joyfully called "toad-food" i was
repulsed. little did i know that twenty-odd years later i'd be eating
toad-food several times a week!

above the alley

after work i was overtaken with the boredom of a caged animal
nothing in the apartment could entertain me,
blankly staring out my window into the warm city evening
i was suddenly drawn up and out, i had to be on the roof!

sitting up antenna-like, tapping into extended surroundings
several stories above the drug-deals, eye level w/ the monuments...
balmy breeze tells of coming rain and adds to the overall effect.

so aware of everything, but also removed, yet totally on display
to anyone whose head was wildly upturned to the sky, as mine was.