BYPASS WATERS by Andréa Balt

Awareness:

When you realize you have hands and feet and you’re not really a person but an inexplicable phenomenon happening and happening and happening as we speak.

And you begin to understand that all of life is improvisation, and you can’t understand how your heart has not skipped one beat in all these years, and you’re momentarily afraid that, now that you’re pointing it out, it might suddenly stop, and you’re not yet ready for that… (Never.)

So here’s some heart surgery in verse, to help me -- you start feeling our hands & feet again.

Bypass Waters

Be still, be still,

So I may enter in a breath,

your throat, so I can dig my way

through veins,

to that deluded heart

of yours, this way

a piece or two might be

extracted, spared,

the blood unblocked,

aortas’ bail.

And all the while, hush,

be still,

the hungry hour be fed,

the stone-bread near;

the sightless ear be opened,

a drop of sound into

a deaf eye, those three words

I don’t love, a substitute

of lips, the skin

no longer mute,

the beast still unconcealed.

Be still, and know man only lives

but twice, once for his

poisoned heart, and yet

another

just to hear his name,

on someone else’s lips.

Whose do you whisper

as you fall asleep?

And yet, be still, I say

quiet your hands,

courage is just a fine

string, not a rope.

I’m almost through, be still,

but are you sure

you want the pounding,

dear? My fatal song will do,

be still… Though you should

know: the added life

comes with a plus

of fear.

Andréa Balt is a writer, garage philosopher & unfinished book with a love for greens, bikes and poetry. She holds a BA in Mass Communication, an MFA in Creative Writing & is an AADP certified Wellness Alchemist. She is co-creator of Rebelle Society, a virtual country reporting acts of creative rebellion and celebrating the art of being alive. Additionally, she spills her tea over at Rebelle Époque & she is currently undergoing 365 days of Creative Rehab. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest &Tumblr.

~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~

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