7.19.12 Reflection of a fictional frozen moment

7.19.12: I attended the Boundless Tales reading series tonight...fabulous and inspiring as always. To be present as new Queens, NYC writers, are leaping at the edge, trusting that the net will appear... is freeing. I spoke to writer Michael Alpiner, who I will be reading with at the NYC Poetry Festival this Sunday, July 22nd 2012 at noon, on the Chumley's stage on Govenor's Island. We spoke about writing frozen moments in time. It reminds me of my fictional poem I wrote last year, posted below....I imagined as if I were a father in Japan in 2011, during the tsunami. What a father could think and feel at the exact moment the deadly wave was coming towards him, his wife, two daughters and puppy.

Higashi Nihon Daishinsai: Eastern Japan’s Great Earthquake Disaster by Jill Parshley ©April 2011

Our local newscaster’s voice just cracked loudly

Been listening to him since I was a child

Sounded like the final pops of kernels bursting at the bottom of the kettle

at Luna’s 3^rd birthday party we held in this basement

My stomach is twisted and 40 years of words are stuck in my throat

I have to run and tell the girls before the threatening horn blows once more

And melts their hearts until they sink deep down in the water

with every moment we shared in this old house my grandfather built.

But our puppy June just took her first steps down our porch,

And our mortgage was finally paid up in March

How will I grab the photographs

When there is no time left?

Where is my mother’s wedding ring that I promised Sing

When she was seven?

Will we make it to heaven?

Should I carry Luna on my back with the hand-me-down pack, I once was so ashamed to walk with?

How will my Emma handle this when I kiss her on her lips

one last time?

I’m running towards her now

Watery eyes, I kiss her on her brow

My beautiful wife

We had a fight last night

Because I couldn’t go to Sing’s Karate match, again

I was at work until 10

I grab a pillow case to throw bottles of milk in

Too late

The 46 foot wave already has come in.