After taking a break for the winter holidays, I’m working on getting back into a consistent writing schedule. One would think, with my consulting day job practically dried up at the moment, that I’d have even more time to write, but I’ve always been astounded at how much time can get eaten up by running errands, cooking, and cleaning (no, I’m not a mother, but I have the utmost respect for them). Also, I may have gotten distracted with reading some manga and webcomics (oh, and don’t forget YouTube), but who’s paying attention really? Anyway, today’s post is something I wrote in my second year of grad school, if I recall correctly. I came across a picture of it and decided the poem, while cringe-worthy and kinda nerdy, was going on the blog. I mean, why have a blog if it doesn’t embarrass me or I don’t regret something I put up?

This particular poem was written at a time when I was working out of a suite of grad student offices in the basement of our building. Two of them were window-less, and two had windows that looked out on the very bottom level of the parking garage five feet away. I was assigned to one of the window-less offices, and I often worked extremely late (because I was am a workaholic) before walking back to my studio apartment. Sometimes, the frustration of studying and research would drive me to pull a sheet of blank printer paper out of my desk and just start writing. This is how “Groundwater” started, and because it was late and I may have been a little loopy, I wrote it on the communal whiteboard. Though, apparently even my creative outlets couldn’t go far from what I was studying at the time.

Groundwater

A miniscule molecule spiraling 
Away through deep and winding waterlogged, 
Porous ways.  Passing through the dark and damp; 
Searching, in need, looking for a partner - 
Partner of opposite charge; partner of 
Opposing, characteristic, ionic 
Presence.  Commitment means naught, for only 
Momentary attraction gained and lost 
Occurs - temporary pairings many.  
Always seeking, in motion, flowing on.  
Then, the minuscule molecule, anion, 
Is snatched away, bound to a surface of 
Clay.  Imprisoned, confined, jailed.  Shackled, held.  
The porous ways continue on, deeper, 
Darker, but greater forces now hold sway.  
For groundwater, this is a normal day.