TAKING THE PLUNGE

by ray pool

Thursday 2nd May 2019 10:16 pm

I grasp the rails, climb the steps,

climb the steps, grasp the rails,

grasp the rails, climb the steps,

then on to the top board,

a slim springing finger of accusation,

a jibe, a nazi salute

over the blue sequence of water.

My feet are ridiculous, inadequate,

heart ready to burst

but the decision has been made,

no going back.

Since those early days I have found

it's not so much taking the plunge

lending a hand to fate,

it was making the decision that leads to it,

and it was always right at the time.

Comments

raypool

Thu 9th May 2019 21:58

Always a pleasure David, and I know there are ripples that spread out in thought which are best dealt with face to face - even with that beard of yours! (especially). All i'll say is that subjective states cannot really be set in stone without bearing in mind how an individual experiences them - but I think the crowd factor plays a part in that environment.

Ray

raypool

Tue 7th May 2019 15:44

Hi mate. Your insightful response has made me think. Perhaps there is a distinction between conscious and unconscious decisions. Eg the death camps scenario.where taking the plunge so called is a habitual obedience to a decision made long before and reinforced through fear or just a deadening of conscience. Automatism in fact or dehumanisation. Poetry has to try to precis such things. Coming c
Back to bliss. Can that be the merging of equally tuned minds as at a concert or indeed one of Hitler's speeches? As well as in solitude. Answers on a postcard please.

raypool

Mon 6th May 2019 21:07

Hi Jennifer and thanks. That repetition was to give the idea of climbing to a height, but you are right it could equally apply to reinforcing the idea of the action.

David, there is a salient point that we have freedom in making decisions - sometimes though Hobson's choice. It is a pretty problem, and we can appear to make our own , but are guided by what's gone before. Market forces love to push us into certain decisions by persuasion. I was thinking that actually carrying out an action is secondary to the decision to do it. Saying it is always right is a subjective point, but at the time we would never consciously make a wrong one surely. Time would reveal the truth in hindsight I suppose.

Thanks both and also to Lisa for liking.

Ray

jennifer Malden

Sat 4th May 2019 18:50

Liked this - also the repetition of the first 3 lines which (Ithink) shows how difficult it is 'to take the plunge'. Jennifer

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TAKING THE PLUNGE

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