Ebb, or: Tide

Posted on by ben Alexander

Poetry Partners #137

‘Swimming Against the Tide’, a ‘Snyder Nonce’ poem by M. Snyder of ‘The Art of M.’

She swam against the tide that was too strong
Found herself nearly drowned in the process
He told her to continue to hold on
She could barely grab a hold of his hand
Her sullen expression, was a bit withdrawn
He pushed himself through no man's land
Refusing to let Satan collect his pawn
Refusing to let her feelings be forgone
They both went under yet hand in hand
Found herself nearly drowned in the process
But the power of faith washed them ashore, to live another day once more

An ‘Oseh Shalom’ poem by ben Alexander of ‘The Skeptic’s Kaddish’

Ruthless unseen tides consume;
Submerge natural reality;
Truth pierces perceptions;
Surface breaks
With love; Amen.

Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

List of Poetry Partners

38 thoughts on “Ebb, or: Tide”

  3. In the sea of deep misery with the waves of anguish washing over you

    🙏🏼He pushed himself through no man’s land Refusing to let Satan collect his pawn🙏🏼

    Floating there with her in the midst of her fluctuating mental storms – this is so beautiful brave wonderful awesome and courageous.
    And remarkably things change, and the one you love starts doing better.
    Love, to have some who loves you, makes life lighter.

    I am so inspired by your great strength to translate these emotions into words.

    2. ALSO: if you want to include BOTH parents’ names:

      For a boy:

      [child’s name] ben [parent1’s name] v'[parent2’s name]

      For a girl:

      [child’s name] bat [parent1’s name] v'[parent2’s name]

      1. O that is great, I am about to write anarticle on Ishmael and Hagar- main source Rashi and Torah and considering his lineage I wanted to set him in context among his relatives. Thank you

  9. Nice work in both pieces. I can’t swim, so the imagery here was especially striking and intense. Another excellent collaboration. Well done, you two. 🙂

      1. Yeah, mine was written after a particulalry horrible spiral down, landing my wife in outpatient for her bp and quitting her job as a caregiver to the elderly. She is now an activities assistant in a nursing home. I myself suffer from minor bouts of anxiety and depression, but being married to someone with BP is incredidbly challenging at times.

    1. ❤ Lauren ❤ ~ yeah – honestly, I have my own mental health issues, as do most people, but nothing close to BP. I had a friend/ co-worker once who suffered from it and shared her experiences with me… it's just a terrible, terrible affliction.

          1. AEDs or Anti Epilepsy Drugs act on the Neurones to calm the brain if they set up a Serotonin reaction at that particular synaptic gap it causes depression or Mania depending on the way the serotonin production swings. Added to this, of course, is the brain damage itself from the seizures which interferes with the Neural pathways themselves. And the focus from which the seizures originate – mine are from the right Temporal Horn and interfere with my memory. So, I have Bipolar Affective Disorder.

            weeds – Caught up inside a clump of tall grass entangled with weedy wild plants. I used to have interesting and scary hallucinations while they were getting the medication balanced.

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