Taste In My Mouth

'm not really into writing poetry, I prefer reading it, but we had to write a poem for class on a childhood experience. It is said that memories are caused because they are linked to pain. Guess its why I remember it so well, and I now have thalassophobia.

"The Taste in My Mouth"

Florida,

I have never flown before.

I watch the ground

below as we take off,

The world looked so small,

toy miniatures,

ants.

Watching,

As the plane landed,

The ocean looked so vast,

Sparkling,

 dazzling majestic crystal blue.

It looks like it goes on forever.

Standing,

In awe, knee deep in the water.

Wiggling the grains of sand,

 Awkward tickling

in-between my little appendages.

Splashing,

The waves pulling themselves

 back and forth,

Thrusting from the abyss,

to the shore line

 with a thunderous roar

I anchor my little feet in the sand

I won’t be carried out to sea.

 “Taste”,

My father urged,

“Taste the water”

 everyone watches in anticipation.

I cup my little hands,

holding a minute fraction

of the majestic crystal blue

I gulp it all down.

Choking,

Gasping, coughing,

 salt burning my esophagus

 Face puckering like a raisin

Pride shattered

My stomach is turning, gurgling.

Frozen,

I stand,

Hairs on my body stand up

 Neurons firing

 around my ankles

Sending messages to my brain

I can’t move;

my eyes are too clouded to see

“Shuffle,”

My father says.

“I can’t,

 they’re everywhere.”

He shuffles,

throws me under his arm

I’m parallel with the surface

 I can see;

To the ocean

I am a toy miniature

Ruined,

My first oceanic experience,

The water will forever

be cloudy and gray

Shortness of breath, dizzy,

heart pounding, breathless

Leaving a bad taste in my mouth

“Hate,”

I say, “I hate the ocean.

There are things in there,

and they’re going to eat me.

Do we have to go to Sea World?

 Because I’ve had enough!

Nobody,

 I mean nobody,

 better fuck with Disney World!”