Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained, and A Poem

I don’t know if this site will have any more than a readership of one, but you only live once, right? Worse than the fear of trying, is not trying at all. So, recipes for life? lifestyle? life in general? I’m winging it.

Setting up a food blog isn’t the first time my daughter’s prompted me out of my comfort zone. This, below, happened when she was six. She knew I wasn’t a confident swimmer. My comfort zone is a pool with a swim-up bar. But she tried to teach me to snorkel in the Pacific. So, this post is an acknowledgement, and a thanks!

I’ll Hold Your Hand

i stand on the only sliver of sand on the reef
under my purple skin the blue of my veins
she says, pretend you’re flying mummy
she claps the water like a seal on a wave

under my purple skin the blue of my veins
psaraikia, little fish, they called her in Greece
she claps the water like a seal on a wave
the current bullies my flippers toward open sea

psaraikia, little fish, they called her in Greece
six-year-old hand takes mine, mummy i’ll stay
the current bullies my flippers toward open sea
to green turtles, clams, coral with brains

six-year-old hand takes mine, mummy i’ll stay
as i once led her she tries to lead me
to green turtles, clams, coral with brains
get off the clown fish, the ocean my mother speaks

as i once led her she tries to lead me
she says, pretend you’re flying mummy
get off the clown fish, the ocean my mother speaks
i stand on the only sliver of sand on the reef

@elsp24