Harnessing The Madness – Jacqueline Cioffa

Harnessing The Madness

 

Don’t worry Hush, little mama

Dry your acrid, bittersweet, woeful tears

 

Don’t you cry, pretty mama

Your darling, happy, freckle-face baby is struggling, fevered, and

deliriously HOT

 

Oh, okay, go on then

Go ahead and cry, little mama

Cry those real, big-old-salty tears

Enough to fill an ocean

Squash the fire under mountains of regret, and molten lava erupting

 

Don’t worry, hush lullaby mama

 

Your baby girl is a strong, solid swimmer

You taught her that

You and her, submersed

 

Her JOY full love of water

 

Bouncy, giggly, freedom submerged while cemented together hand in

hand

She was fearless in your arms

Unafraid of stormy seas, tsunamis and heavenly floods

 

Little girl’s flapping her arms now, mama

Crazed, and kicking hard to swim to the top

 

Oh hush now, pretty mama,

don’t worry your fraught, exhausted mind or fret

 

Water trumps fire, and this girl

 

Your darling baby

 

She

 

Is

 

Harnessing the madness

 

Submersed, safe and sound in the Marianas Trench

Her screaming, gurgling lungs breathe better

 

In utero

 

Go on now, mama, gather your salty tear filled buckets and buckets and buckets

Pour them right over her head

 

Fire burns out, smoldering wet

 

The melody is haunting and heartbeat sweet, familiar

And sigh so lovely, lovely, lovely

 

Your baby feels all the feels, smells in color and vibrates clickety-clack

sounds underwater

 

Hush, now child, don’t you cry, too

Together in tandem

 

Your mama is there, she’s right there

Feet firmly rooted by rocks, wood and earth on solid ground

Smiling down

 

Harnessing the madness with her bleeding, thumping, overflowing

bursting heart

 

In two-time rhythm

Same heart, hers and yours

Keeping time together

 

She tosses a life jacket attached to an unbreakable umbilical cord, made

from solid oak, and knotty pine twine

 

 

The rope plays shadow games on the surface, as the water sways to

and fro

Under the prettiest, blinding white sunlight

Bubbles of air and H2O

 

Oxygen 

 

Hush now, mama, keep pouring  those frozen buckets of ice-cold-doubt

Over your girl’s scorching, sizzling brain on fire head

 

Hush mama, your little dolly is just a girl, and not a funny fish

 

She’s going to be A-OK, alright?

 

Hush mama, her head’s on fire, and lungs are all wet

But, she’s paddling hard and fast towards the surface

 

Flailing and searching for your firm grip, and steady resolve

Inside her shaky, trembling fingers

 

Oh, sweet heartbeat

The birds chip, and an indigo blue, clear sky, sunshine lights up the dark,

murky, clouded depths

 

Blue is the loveliest color

 

Pretty, strong, and powerful

Little mama is calling her name

 

Right there, oh, there she is

 

Mama’s shadow, bounce-back light and love reflection

Makes circle formations, bubble distress calls, and H2O air

 

Oxygen

 

Right above the surface,

Mama stands tall, barefoot on the green grass

Beside her baby girl, all along

 

Mama, your dolphin lung baby is gasping for air underwater, squashing the flames, and surrendering

 

Floating freely, buoyant, as the salt tides push her to the surface, and the scorching sun’s beautiful, intoxicating light feels warm and inviting

 

She sees her mama’s pretty face for the first time, smiling and kind

 

Aged

 

Bound forever by love, and heaven on earth

 

Little girl remembers, hope floats

 

Her one and only, mama’s fierce motherly love waits, prays and watches

 

Her all-grown-up girl

 

The gyspy, free-flying, Mustang wild spirit, good, mad woman

Grow roots, and quiet her wings

 

Thank you, dear mama

Yours, and only yours

 

L.o.V.e.

 

Anchors the soul

©Jacqueline Cioffa

Jacqueline Cioffa was an international model for 17 years and a celebrity makeup artist. She is a dog lover, crystal collector and stone crab enthusiast. Her work has been featured in the anthology, Brainstorms, and numerous literary magazines. Living with manic depression, Jacqueline is an advocate for mental health awareness.

She’s a storyteller, observer, essayist, potty mouth and film lover who’s traveled the world. Her poignant, literary fiction debut, The Vast Landscape, gives new meaning to intense, raw and heartfelt. Fans of the emotional, soul stirring first novel will not be able to put the exciting sequel, Georgia Pine, down.

Look for Jackie’s stunning column, Bleeding Ink on Feminine Collective.

Connect with Jackie on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Jacqueline Cioffa on IG, and at Jacqueline Cioffa.