never thought you
knew how separate
lives can’t be
together when apart
only to remember
the always ending
after it’s over
this long distance
never thought you
knew how separate
lives can’t be
together when apart
only to remember
the always ending
after it’s over
this long distance
St. Elmo’s Fire, now obscure
80’s movie, song, stuck in my head
I imagine myself ninety two
like my grandmother once was
humming lyrics, words
Bye Bye Blackbird
in a room full of people
with blank faces
Judd Nelson long forgotten
that trickling water
goes somewhere, pushes
between smooth stones
decaying leaves
undulating stream
funnels through
all things but sun
that gravity exists
in memory moments
summer creek, wet feet
balancing on wobbly islands
holding boyhood time
until runnel becomes river
rushes away
This was published back in 2007.
BIG thanks to the Creative Writing Department at New Jersey City University for publishing this non-fiction piece.

More about Erin Schrode here: https://www.erinschrode.com/

More about Jane Kim here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Kim
Dr. Sylvia Earle (Marine Biologist) is in the front row. I’m standing next to Kim Chambers, the open water distance swimmer.
To learn more about Dr. Sylvia Earle and Kim Chambers, please visit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Earle