Ripples slosh over your ankles, trying
to wash you up, say what can’t be done.
Those who love you do not want you
to take such risks. They are wrong.
There is no reason the color of water
cannot be the same as a skyway.

Do not be distracted if your image
drops below the surface. It is not you.
It is a shadow. Forget all the sounds
that have brought you here and now
leave. You have given up everything —
the ground under your feet. It is not
to be found now beneath this body

of water. Each day imagine yourself new.
Take one step before another, expect
dust to accumulate underfoot again,
slowly. Let whatever wants to be green
grow beneath you. Sometime in your life,
you may begin to walk with a pause,
but there is no reason to fall,
until you come to the end of your river.

by Paul Dickey

Download the MP3

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Modern Poetry just for a measly grade
to take home to mommy poo?
But take my best poem on my blog
where I have put in all the good stuff
& class weirdoes and even my best friend
never even get it that my boyfriend
in my poem is not my boyfriend
but is a metaphor for the great romance
of my life which may or may not
be happening now, or if you care, may not
ever happen. There. What’d I tell you?
You take off all your clothes and lie down
on a piece of virtual real estate like your
whole freaking life and nobody gives a rat’s
assets to say anything but oooh, gross. I say
the difference between reading a poem
and writing a poem is just not fair.

by Paul Dickey