poetry snapshots: carolyn o'connell

WATER MEMORIES




Memories are laid like islands populating

the river of the brain they stand proud

of the water, sometimes wooded by

trees of time where events become

leaf-cased, people twisted to wildfowl

others have been inhabited, and houses

rise to be accessed in dreams

or when silence causes the mind to

stop cavorting in the present.



Those born by rivers are Neptune’s children

at home as Glaucus in its element.

Born by the Thames memories of water are

conjured reflections: pulling the sails of a dingy

against the wind the boat flying,

diving into dark water no thought of what lies

beneath or the currents flow;

even the twisting of a bike becomes

an eddy in the stream of thought.



Only when Lethe’s waters surge punching

holes through the mind’s banks to flood

its islands do memories fade.





Carolyn O'Connell lives in Richmond on Thames. Her poems have appeared in various magazines including Envoi, Partners, Interpreter’s House, Poetry Showcase, and the anthology Genius Floored. Find more about Carolyn on the poetry pf site, and the Second Light Live site. She is a member of the Ormonde Poetry Group, and attends the poetry events Bright Scarf in Richmond and Rhythm and Muse in Kingston.