[the Writing of Kuypers]    [JanetKuypers.com]    [Bio]    [Poems]    [Prose]


To The River

I lead myself to the river
to cleanse myself
to strip myself of all evils
I touch the water with my hand
I watch the gentle rippling waves
contort my image
and change me

I wade into the pureness
my toes
my heels
my ankles
immersed in the water
it pushes against my skin
it tingles my nerves

the sand at the bottom
slides around my toes
the coldness of the water numbs me
I stand paralyzed to the feeling
immobilized by the sensation

my tolerance grows
and I continue to wade
my calves
my shins
my knees
they feel like ice
they are changed by the water
changed by the feeling

I need the river

I cannot wait any longer
and I dive

my hair ripples with the waves
as my hands part the water
as I swim downward
further and further
to cleanse myself

as the light slowly disappears

and I am flooded
with new sensations
and new emotions

but as I rise once again
to the surface
as I emerge from the river

I emerge from the cleansing

and the air
once again contaminates me
with the evils of
life


Copyright Janet Kuypers.
All rights reserved. No material
may be reprinted without express permission.

Life on the Edge, 2007 ccd collection book, front cover It All Comes Down, 2007 Janet Kuypers book, front cover Rising to the Surface, 2007 Janet Kuypers book, front cover


video Watch the YouTube video below
(or click on the video image to view this video in another window)

not yet rated (1:56) live 08/05/07 at Beach poets