Sunday 14 January 2018

Beneath The Waters Deep

by Judith Michaels Safford


How do I close a door that has never opened,
one long ago rusted shut like a sunken ship
beneath the waters deep that never got to sail her treasure?
Beneath the waters deep that never had a chance to sail her treasure.

How do I open a door that never was
except on a romance screen
in a teenage dream?
Beneath the waters deep.

Give in or reject
the only power tool
for women of my generation.
And yet,
cruel consequences whittled even this tool
to a sliver.
Whittled to a sliver – worthless as
a rusted sunken ship.

A wide-eyed sitting duckling
for the Bible’s female submission tale,
swallowing the apple of the fall,
ingesting Eve’s recorded fail.
Never got to sail
her treasure.

I know how to flirt, seduce, disassociate,
exhaust the body’s tension and
how to pretend.
Beneath the waters deep.

Connecting intentionally and
authentic loving requires no
genitals, drugs or alcohol.

This fractured heart
saturated, tenderized, vulnerable
wills to opens its door
to intimacy
of a resurrected treasure
and the beauty of a deeper truth
the sheen of a sunken precious jewel
beneath the waters deep.


* * * * *

In 2006, Judith Michaels Safford discovered a radio program on writing poetry. She followed the prompts and mustered up the courage to press the send button. She was invited to read and a door was open that had not previously existed. She finds that her emotions express more easily through poetry. Judith self-published her memoir in 2009. Don’t Sell Your Soul, Memoir of a Guru Junkie. Encouraged by a published poet-friend, she embarked on self-publishing a book of prayer poems. Joyful Surrender, A pilgrimage. Judith continues to practice a 23-year career as a licensed massage therapist. Today her home is Glenwood, New Mexico, where artists of many kind reside. Touching others with hands and poems brings a tremendous satisfaction of purpose to her life.

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