In This Diner, in This Ocean
“If you want to know what water is, don’t ask a fish.” - Chinese Proverb
In this diner, all sounds become one: the melody of frying and pouring, the slide of shoes fetching waffles or eggs or grilled cheese, the skate of heavy plates across Formica counters, the rattle of cutlery and plastic tumblers, calls from the kitchen, conversations in the booths, and piped in, Bob Marley sings Don’t worry ‘bout a thing followed by an unfortunate selection of melancholy Frank Sinatra ballads, when above this clamor, the lyric of a single song emerges from the squall that drowns it:
Help me, I think I’m falling.
Once I was stardust and knew the rotation of the earth, the weight of its atmosphere. I’ve been swimming through life deaf to my own voice. Numb to the sensations of sea, sky, earthspin.
Elaine Mintzer
Elaine Mintzer lives in Los Angeles. Her work has been published most recently in Anacapa Review and Shiela-Na-Gig. Her work has been featured on Moontide Press poet-of-the-month page, Cultural Weekly,MacQueen’s Quinterly,Beloit Poetry Review,Panoplyzine,Slipstream Press, Caliban,Gyroscope Review, Last Call, Chinaski,and Lummox. Elaine’s first collection wasNatural Selections (Bombshelter Press2005).
Comments
Thank you for including me in this issue of readable and provocative works. And your personal note is just icing on the cake!
Thank you, Elaine. The mixture of the real, the surreal, and the wise saying of the fish, makes a splendid combination. Nicely done.