Goosies

Goosies Jennifer Lopez gets them a lot when she listens to singers on American Idol. Perhaps it happened to me a few times, but I can’t recall the specific time that a song gave me the goosies. Those crazy little pimples above which the hairs stand erect most usually on our arms occur when people are moved by things: music, dance, emotions. Also things that creep us out or give us great fear can give us the chills or goosebumps. My mother used to say, “When you get a sudden chill for no specific reason, it means that someone just walked over your grave.” That happened for me just a couple of times. Maybe my future burial spot is a little bit remote! As I think and think about it, I can recall at least one time this strange phenomenon known as goosebumps caused not just my arms, but nearly my entire body, to resemble that of a plucked bird! It was back in ‘74 and I was with a small group of students visiting the coast of the Mediterranean Sea off Spain’s beautiful Valencia. It was late winter (or perhaps very early spring). All my life I wanted to say I had swum in a sea far from America! Though the temperature was extremely cold for swimming, I dared myself to venture out into the Mediterraean that day. As the others in my group dared only to poke their toes into the ice-cold water, I submerged my entire body. What a shock it was! Nevertheless, for at least twenty minutes, I lay on my back, letting my body float and float, drifting with the tide while making sure to keep close by the shore. When I noticed the group was wanting to leave, I swam back. As I sat in the bus with a towel wrapped around me, I shivered uncontrollably and my skin puckered up as the hairs rose up on both my legs and arms. I had been foolish that day, but I felt proud to say I had swum in the Mediterranean Sea. Nov. 14, 2019 for the 'Goosebumps' Poetry Contest of Delilah Ventura