POEM OF THE DAY BY THOMAS SAYERS ELLIS

A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop

All those

Liquid love affairs,

Blind swimmers

Trusting rumps.

We wiggled,

Imagining water.

Wet, where was

The One?

Nevermind Atlantis

And the promise

Of moving pictures,

A lit candle

In the window

Of our conscious minds.

Those who danced,

Pretending to swim

Underwater,

Did so out

Of pure allegiance.

Some wore snorkels

Made with

The waistbands

Of funky underwear,

Others wet suits

With clothespins

Clamped to their noses,

Airtight as

Black Power handshakes.

Rump-by-rump,

The strings attached

To our thangs were

Reeled into The Deep

And rhythmic as fins,

Schools of P signs

Flapped and waved

Like flags.

One nation

Under a groove.

No one held their breath

In the flashlit depth.

No one sank.


-Thomas Sayers Ellis