Take My Hand, You Are in Love
Arcadia, CA
2021, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
Could you peel open a night light,
and tell me how many good dreams it has left to shine?
Everything in this world gets tired—
we fall and we break,
throat dry with chlorine, nose filled with chlorine,
blue trembling bodies crying hot tears.
then, we reassemble
into new beings who get to learn
how to breathe, how to kick, how to swim
and then drown all over again.
I haven’t quite determined if I believe in reincarnation,
but do you see this water?
Its running gargle is a timeless babble,
echo
roar.
Splash me with water, so I might wake.
Dunk me in water, so I might be reborn.
Shoot me with water, so I might laugh.
And of course, shoot you back.
I’ve learned to blow soap bubbles & how to sing
songs so the shower can wash them down the drain.
Just as I overcame chlorine to see beyond my reflection,
and into the glittering fluidity of life.
Gasping, waterbenders in the pool who didn’t know
how the rain runs in our blood.
Water doesn’t just come out from faucets or plastic, love—
Ariel’s world exists in every facet of ours, she just never saw past the forks.
I sweat nightmares of a vengeance,
of a desiccation that clings to sinks and lips
and drink a glass poisoned by my own hand,
still feeling the ocean’s spit on my forehead,
pulling me by my ankles to sea, see,
see.
I am tired of gazing into lights and counting down
to the horizon on Santa Monica’s pier,
My sister reaches her wet hand into the icebox,
and the ice sticks, falls in love,
holds her hand.
Take my hand now, we are 60% water
and it’s high time to wake up and join the flood,
our chorus.
Reflection
Reflection
I started this piece by writing down all of my memories with water that I could come up with one night, and as I did I was astonished to find I had so many! The first memory I put down was watching The Little Mermaid, and from there a series of moments rediscovered began to trickle forth. Soap bubbles in the shower, coughing water after nearly drowning in the jacuzzi. Plopping droplets on pennies and realizing "oh, that’s why ice sticks to my hands!" But placed beside the fact that so many people are deprived of this life-giving substance, it makes me simultaneously sad and impassioned to bring attention to how lucky we are, and how privileged carelessness deprives people of their natural right to water. As can be seen through many shows, one of which being Avatar: The Last Airbender, water is an incredibly powerful substance, and this project was a wonderful reminder of that. Though I will be more conscious of how much water I use, I think one of the most effective ways to create environmental change is through awareness. So, as an officer in my school’s environmentalist club, I will make this a top priority and continue to remind the people around me of the priceless value of water.