When cold toes have the courage to jump in a hot tub. |
Steam From my cold toes, nearly submerged in a tub of hot water, tangles of steam arose and twisted like signals from a fire, like mutterings of apprehension, fear, even hope, a prayer offered up just in case someone was listening. My son ran to the tub in panic. "Mommy, your feet are on fire!" That night, I had a four year old afraid of taking a bath. Thought his toes might catch on fire. I never was that good at physics but I tried to explain. I told him it was like water hitting a hot skillet, or a light Southern rain on asphault after a boiling afternoon. My mother used to tell me, "Where there's smoke, there's fire." But steam, steam is like stepping cold into a crisis for which we have no solution. It may look like smoke from a distance but nothing is burning but fear. Perhaps, where there's steam, there's someone who jumped in despite the fear and their spirits are lighter for having risen to the challenge. ________________________________________________________________________ Steam SWPoet Centered only (above) Concrete Poetry version (below): Steam From cold toes nearly submerged in hot water, tangles of steam arose and twisted like vines of script. They told a story of a journey in fear when one chose to jump into the flame anyway and found she could survive the heat. Often we fear the burn before we see the fire. Perhaps, when we begin our journey from a place of fear, steam can look an awful lot like smoke.. SWPoet Orig version below: Is it more important to make a picture or to break the lines where the natural pauses are? You be the judge. Steam From cold toes on feet nearly submerged in a tub of hot water, tangles of steam arose and twisted like vines of script. They told a story of a journey in fear when one jumped into the flame anyway and found she could survive the heat. I realized then, that, from a place of fear, steam can look an awful lot like smoke. |