Open Poetry #35 |
Pop the Balloons |
Jaime Fradera Senior Member
since 2000-11-25
Posts 843Where no tyranny is tolerable |
Pop the Balloons 1: It is evening I sit out on my balcony drinking in the cool night air. I hear the sounds of other tenants coming out of their apartments. They begin afixing balloons and brightly colored paper streamers to the walls. I ask a child if there is to be a party but he says he doesn't know. A crowd begins to gather. I extend my right hand to feel along the cold metal railing and find it covered in streamers and balloons as far as I can reach. I squeeze a balloon in my hand, but curiously, I can not make it pop. Then it dawns on me That I forgot to close the door. I step into my apartment and find trashy paper and balloons have been taped to clutter everything. I try to close the door but there are too many balloons. I can't just go to bed ... and leave the door like that ... I try to pop the balloons. I pull them, prick them, pinch them, squeeze them; but once again, I can not make them pop and quit. Then, just by accident, I pop one, and all balloons in the apartment blow up in rapid staccato Sounding like a string of firecrackers. Frightened, I shove the exploding trash outside and slam the door. I can hear the garbage going off outside, sounding like fireworks for the fourth of July. 2: Just by accident, I find I can levitate off the floor and float around in the air Just by thinking about it. It seems that this is being taught. this technique has already been worked out, and I go to a class. I give the teacher a microphone and show her what to do; but the music is so loud I can not follow the instructions. It is something like aerobics exercise in a gym except that as music plays the class, in formation, is dancing in the air. I rise from the floor, not quite knowing what I'm doing, and bounce my head off of the ceiling. But nobody will work with me, so I am on my own. I decide to do some tricks and teach myself stability and control. The music is a reference and helps to judge my motion in the air. I push off a wall, gliding gracefully across the room only to bounce the opposite wall and start drifting back the other way. Next, I glide smoothly in my sox all the way across the floor like skating, but can not stop until a table breaks my flight. I can not tell where I am going but know I will collide with walls or furniture, because it is the only way to stop, so I brace myself for violent, unexpected impacts. Why won't anybody work with me, show me how to do it right ... ... I think vaguely of Newton, of inertia and the laws of motion, now suddenly quite vexing. I find to my annoyance that when I collide with furniture while gliding on the floor, I pivot and bounce into the air where, judging by the sound of the music, I begin to spin. After class I try to tell the teacher of my problem, but she just sneers disgustedly at me and says she expects me to try too and that she only works with groups. 3: I am back in my apartment and the balloons are gone. I just can't get over having this ability to float around the room with little conscious effort. This levitation is so very seductive! I try this again, and then again just to make sure it really works! But what if, like some addiction it slips out of my control? What if it makes me delusional, psychotic, makes me think I can fly, Makes me do something crazy, and jump out of a window Like Art Linkletter's daughter? ... Maybe I am better off without it. And Sunshine has a dream Where she wills herself to fly? ... ... SC Cheech and Chong say We only use 20 percent of our brain ... |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
You have popped all the balloons, my dear friend, and you brought me from the sky, down to earth. You also made me cry, which is a very good thing, because, because, my emotions were being bricked again. Jaime, and to those who help you with "reading" my writing, thank you... Thank you for the cloudburst. |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
Smiling here, at those magnificent reality balloons of yours, amigo. |
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*Alli4000*
since 2004-03-21
Posts 3188The World of Poetry |
Very nice write! ~Alli~ *AIM = Alli4000* Journal! |
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Earth Angel Member Empyrean
since 2002-08-27
Posts 40215Realms of Light |
Jaime, I was captivated by this poem. I kept reading and reading and didn't want it to end. I fly in my dreams as well and I love that sense of freedom! I remember when Art Linkletter's daughter died thinking that she could fly. So, I save my flying for when I asleep! Grab on to those brightly colored balloons and let them take you up into the sky ~ high and free! ~ or you could use your own wings to take you up into the wild blue yonder! Hugs with love, Linda |
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iliana Member Patricius
since 2003-12-05
Posts 13434USA |
What a dream! Going back for another read. |
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