PARACHUTES, MY LOVE, COULD CARRY US HIGHER

"I just said I didn’t know,
now you are holding me in your arms,
how kind."
Parachutes, my love, could carry us higher.
Around the net I am floating,
pink and pale blue fish are caught in it,
they are beautiful, but they are not good for eating.
Parachutes, my love, could carry us higher
than this mid-air in which we tremble.
Having exercised our arms in swimming,
now the suspension, you say,
is exquisite. I do not know.
There is coral below the surface, there is sand and berries
like pomegranates grow.
This wide net, I am treading water
near it. Bubbles are rising and salt
drying on my lashes, yet I am no nearer
air than water. I am closer to you
than land, and I am in a stranger ocean
than I wished.

-Barbara Guest

Berklee’s poetry Walk was laid in October 2003 along Edison Street between Shattuck and Milvia Streets. The route includes 128 metal plates with excerpts from songs, each of which is related in one way or another to the city of Berkeley.

The plaque features a poem by the American poet Barbara Guest (1920-2006) who studied for a certain period at the University of Berkeley