Accidental Tooning: Buoyant

Cartoon by Phil Maish

Kim Kishbaugh

Buoyant

An octopus doesn’t have eight arms
rather six
plus two legs
the legs to crawl
the arms to swim
to eat
occasionally to be eaten

What we know
we do not know
we know not
what we know
or don’t

I know my love for you
knows no bounds,
I need but two arms
to hold tight
to you
when life’s currents
threaten to drag me to the seabed

You are the ocean’s salt
that safekeeps me
the current that propels me
I stand on both my legs and reach out my arms
just two
enough to hold you
and swim us both to shore

[first published in goodbaad poetry journal]

Kim Kishbaugh is our Accidental Critic here at Escape Into Life, writing about events she attends and books she likes. Phil Maish, the cartoonist, writes about cartoons and comics in his EIL column, Toon Musings. Here, they come together with Kim’s poem and Phil’s cartoon to illustrate it. Incidentally, they are wife and husband! And isn’t that just perfect as we approach Valentine’s Day?!