Wednesday Poem: "Pacific Midnight"
Watch the blue
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PACIFIC MIDNIGHT Watch the blue creep through the black. Pacific midnight is when my shapely vessel wakes: It knows that 3 a.m. is when the world is quiet, When predators sleep between attacks. Borderland-hour, Not day and not night, Unburdened by the fears of either. Just a time to be the person I would have been With a different, kinder life. Watch the blue wind through the black. Look how they entwine. At pacific midnight, I become the woman I could have been: I give myself tea and treats and touches that please, I dump love on myself like I’m one of those kids Who didn’t know that you can’t say that on television. At pacific midnight, I become all I wasn’t given. Watch the blue sneak through the black. The water inside me no longer rowdy-overflowing, Still as the smoothest lake. The wind settles down, the trees cease their shaking, And I find relief, I find solid ground beneath my back. Watch the blue reach through the black. Pacific midnight is the time for making wishes, For tucking them gently into damp soil, Time to tenderly probe feelings that have no name, Time to remember only good things, All of my many knacks, To recall the Universe’s shape, And how mine is the same. Watch the blue carve through the black. I’ve never seen the west coast, But California, I live on your timeline. I grew up with your soundtrack, I made it mine. Shadows on cave walls told me there could be another place, Told me there would always be a trail forward, And reminded me I’m skilled in wayfinding. Watch the blue sail through the black. The clock says pacific midnight. See the deepest hue your eye could imagine. Watch the night give birth to the day. Cut the cord, Allow it to separate.
Thank you so much for reading my work.
See you next week.
So lovely. The repetition is mesmerizing.
Love it, Lizzy. You had me at the title but I really enjoyed the whole thing. Your lines about making the California soundtrack yours and "You can't say that on television" made me think about how we are never true creatures of our place, especially when we factor in all the pop culture we enjoy. We all sort of become mix tapes of different times, places, and experiences. Don't know if that's what you were going for, but it's what I thought while reading it.