Cave Writing

[wingman]

I'm working on cave diving papers at the moment and ran across this on the net...thought i'd share it as some might like it? Anybody know Joe Clark and does he still dive? Anyone else have little gems like this they would like to share?

Sink Whole By Joe Clark

So here's what you do, man:

You turn off the too-smooth smothering dead pavement;
bounce, jar, swerve, bounce, and slide
down the tunnel of woods
til you circle it once:
an emerald bigger than your house.

Twist the key into silence. Open the door. Walk closer.
Limestone cauliflowers and acute tree-trunks
Tumble down,
stop,
tumble again to the crystal ball of water.

First, take the rope swing, whoop and splash! feel it:
shock of cold,
sweet,
clear as air,
your bare feet tempting imagined nightmares below.

Next, suit up and strap on the machine.
Close your visor,
and (now sounding like Darth Vader)
drop
through
time
past antique benthic corpses,
sculptures of pressed oolite,
skewering trees up-pointed;
get down.

Aquifer, god of life, broods in shadow,
Sighs in unseen corridors,
Watching you float above a tomb of submarine pharaohs.
Mind the dust, now.

Breathe in, bubble out.

Death winks, flounces her skirt,
disappears down ever-dark halls,
daring her lover to follow.

Uplooking, breathe the machine's breath.

Uplooking, see green arms caress the sky.

Uplooking, exhale ascending dreams.

And don't forget to watch your gauge.

[Gene Powell]

This is cool! Thanks for sharing.

[jsclarkfl]

Wow, thanks, guys! The poem was written almost 20 years ago after a dive at Emerald Sink south of Tallahassee. I still dive - in fact, just got my AOW last fall - but not as regularly as I'd like. Very gratifying to hear that the piece was meaningful to other divers. It's my only "diving poem" (and one of the few poems I've written) but you can see some of my other work here: https://sites.google.com/site/tallahasseebeach/. Again, thanks for the kind words!