How to float
A sonnet about showing an alien the ocean
I know your kind has hovered here before -
A pilot filmed you tricking twixt two blues.
But did you smell it? Taste it? Spot its hues?
Let currents drag your craft across its floor?
//
Remove your lens, your shell, your garb. Explore:
The foamed remains of waves, with salt diffuse.
The tumbled rocks and glass, smoothed by abuse.
Cold shock of entry: we depart the shore.
//
Splutter! Fear, the ocean's climb and roar, take
courage, gulp air topside, mill your limbs, note
the pull of drifting eddies in your wake.
And when you're ready, one more step, devote
your core to weightlessness, your soul to make
the final lift. Water-held, now we float.
About the Creator
'20/20'
"Do It Again" the track that would ultimately open the Beach Boys final album on Capitol Records which was released on February 10th 1969 had originally been released as a single in August of 1968. The track was the first of many post-Pet Sounds era throwbacks to the early Beach Boys sound which would become continually more cliched and eventually lead the Beach Boys to the level of self-parody they would eventually succumb to in the 1980s while their closest contemporaries The Beatles nearing the end of their run in 1969 would go on to be viewed as the most influential band of all time. However, the song itself is not bad on its surface, and it opens with a futuristic sounding (for 1969) drumbeat captured by then-Beach Boys engineer Stephen Desper using tape delays on the drums performed by Dennis Wilson and John Guerin. The song has been re-recorded numerous times over the years on various Beach Boys-related projects most notably the 2011 re-recording at Capitol studios featuring the five surviving Beach Boys at the time backed instrumentally by various members of both the Brian Wilson Band and Mike Loves touring "Beach Boys" to promote the then upcoming Beach Boys 50th Anniversary reunion tour in 2012. The hammering and power drill sound at the end of the song was an excerpt from a track called "Workshop" that was to be a part of the uncompleted "SMiLE" album.
By Sean Callaghan7 days ago in Beat
Comments (7)
Whoaaaa this was extremely beautiful! I loved it so much!
Oh my goodness this was glorious ❤️
Beautiful poem as always Suze!
Wonderful Suze! Expertly done, I love the imagery here
Beautiful! Love the structure and the language. I also love the choice to teach our alien friend how to float and not necessarily swim. Really great imagery!
Absolutely brilliant. I love the gorgeous descriptions-- "foamed remains of waves" ... I love the use of verbs at the line break, focusing not just on what the ocean is like, but what it's like to interact with it for the first time .... I love how it begins with hovering and ends with floating, capturing with such subtlety the difference between observing and engaging. Love!!
Beautifully written and such a wonderful choice to show an alien! Loved this and loved the form choice, the rhyme flowed so well, I could almost hear the waves lapping! Brilliant! 🤍🤍🤍