"QUAKE" WRITTEN AND READ BY JOY CHIME AT LOUDTHOTZ POETRY OPEN READING SEASON 10 EPISODE 5 OCEAN

QUAKE 

Some nights you are a lighthouse

But more often than not, 

you are wicked

whipping

weeping

wind,

turbulent crash of waves,

the persistent beat of sea on shore,

wooing the sand. 

I like to think the sea is letting out 

her frustration at not being able 

to pick up her abundant skirts 

and sashay onto land 

whenever and however far she pleases. 

She has to be content with flowing,

waving,

rising,

crashing,

rolling. 

Land is hard,

unyielding.

But you'd probably be, too,

if people fought and killed each other over you,

if, for every flower or tree that sprang out of you,

the blood, richly perfumed with youth,

of a child slain in peace time spilled on to you, in you,

if you heard rivers of life blood cry out for justice from inside you,

and the most you can do is amplify that cry,

but really,

you only listen helplessly.

Perhaps this is why the earth quakes sometimes:

it gets too much. 

It's the same inside you. 

Quake then, darling. 

Erupt in a wail,

wring the anguish and despair out of your soul.

Ride that hurricane.

Even better, dig into the core of it.

Put your finger on the pulse of it

and know why you quake.

Because to know a thing is to have power over it, right?

When next you quake, honey,

know why.

Joy Chime