2 Time Capsule: Thoughts

Title:  Thoughts
Date:  04/16/1996
Setting:  Sophomore year of college--first Poetry List poem
Form:  Free Verse

The winds echo through the trees
while sunbeams bounce off crystal waters
by which I am surrounded
sinking slowly down
into its depths
I am engulfed by cool caressing fingers
Fully emerged
my breath is lost
Suddenly a pain
As though someone is standing on my chest
I gasp for air
yet none is to be found
Struggling frantically
the surface miles from my touch
Piercing the water
with an immense thrust
my head tilts back
Tasting the air once again
thoughts soften in my mind
and images subside
The wind echoes through the trees
while sunbeams bounce off crystal waters
which surround me and now embodies my mind

Notes:  This poem was the first poem I sent out via email to a group of people.  It was (as it would turn out) the first poem of my Poetry List collection.  While 95% of the poems written for the Poetry List were written on the spot in the computer lab between classes, this one was not.  It was simply the first I chose to share with others in this manner.

Artifact I:  Original handwritten version of the poem.