soggy tiny message in a bottle
floating for six weeks
lying at the edge of a beach today
discovered more than once
because people keep reading it and throwing it back
the ocean sits patiently waiting for a reply
FLOTILLA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
her heart, once a crammed attic,
overflowing with yesterday’s dusty relics,
became a barren room.
each secret—a silent, fragile confession,
she scrawled on paper thin as skin,
slipped into the throat of antique glass.
a cardboard ark, ferrying her bottled truths,
down to the shore she walked,
where the sea sighs secrets of its own.
a flotilla of confessions and longing,
a bobbing armada of regret,
pushed by the tide—away, away, away.
she raised her hands in farewell
releasing all her burdens,
their echoes fading on salty winds
ADRIFT AT SEA*
sea-worn bottle,
bobs on a digital tide.
inside, not paper brittle with salt,
but luminous lines of light,
coded in metaphors and rhyme.
message tossed
into the sea.
unknown sender,
no harbor designated, no destination
on any map.
it drifts, a lonely vessel,
across oceans of indifference,
until…
a seacoast appears,
unsummoned,
unexpected.
my eyes, the sand.
my mind, the beach.
I pick it up,
this delicate thing,
uncorking the silence.
The words flow out,
a story whispered,
a feeling shared,
across lifetimes,
across the vacuity.
suddenly,
I am the address.
the recipient unknown,
FOUND.
the message delivered.
the poem,
HOME.
*Note: I posted this poem at Poetry Soup in June 2025 then deleted it (www.poetrysoup.com › poem › adrift_at_sea_1740391). This is my original poem and has not been plagiarized. Also, this poem was recently published in Highland Park Poetry’s Anthology titled MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE. I am blessed.
Ship wrecks do happen
People get stranded
On a small island
Then build their shelters
Make beds from what found
Search for their food
Then search for water
Find a bottle and cap
Find bark to write on
Sending a message
In a bottle to
Anyone to find
Hoping the bottle
Will return to them
The wait could be long
Anyone to find
Hoping the bottle
Will return to them
It could take months
Months or years
For the message to be found
Or it could never be found
Floating in water
Unttil it is found
Bottle shared
with my mom’s bestie;
and it was good
to share old times;
now even this
is past times…
The good times roll
away, like
an empty bottle…
We’d laugh,
discuss,
until I had to go
and Judy left
with an “I love you.”
The best thing said
between two.
Take my hand
don't let go
I know is hard
but I don't want to fall
what's in your head?
let me know
messages in a bottle
can travel the world.
Jessica
A long reach of in-coming tide
laid it gently at my bare feet -
a green, corked wine bottle.
I could see a note within it still,
curious, I took it home.
That evening,
by the light of a desk lamp
I opened it,
revealing a handwritten message,
It simply read:
"Too Late."
I bottle my emotions,
Seal them tight like messages in glass,
Cast adrift in vast, uncaring seas,
Only to wash ashore, unbidden and misunderstood.
It was a journey long and weary,
These bottled whispers floating aimless,
Until sands of fate urge them ashore,
Where they're found, but often by the wrong hands.
Unintended readers unfurl my words,
Read lines meant for others—or perhaps no one,
Misinterpretations abound,
The true meanings lost in the waves of time.
Yet still, I send these bottled sentiments,
Hoping one day the right person picks them up,
Reads them right, understands the tides
That brought my deepest feelings to their feet.
At times I sit & wait for the sun
To uncover all the things about you
that for some reason or another I cannot say.
For every thought I've had about you
I've written down, torn out and swallowed
in the spine of a different book.
One covered in flesh and parted by the red sea.
One day you'll find them.
When the sun rises and the wind is high.
You'll see all that passes.
One day I'll be full and have no choice
but to sail in a buoyancy of water.
One day you'll look down
& See a reflection of me bottled up.
When the sun rises and is full and at it's peak.
All will be revealed.
You'll be so overwhelmed
At how beautiful broken glass shines in the sun.
If only for a moment.
I too am valid
On the sinister horizon,
only this bottle
missive, message...
Uncertainty...
No ships pass,
no planes on this route...
Nobody in sight...
just sinister line
from the horizon...
Only this bottle to browse
my exile... !
I don’t have the words
They’ll never be enough
So, I stay silent
Hoping that it’s still understood
Though the storms may come
Though it’s tossed between the waves
I hope it reaches the shore
Though empty, still full of emotion
As your message in a bottle
Consider me someone's fallen ways,
Beneath a swollen stare;
Or a brief but complete moment
Which span is unknown.
Consider me to be a stiff collection of thoughts
From within a weary heart
That has been handled by fools
Or....
Consider me barely enough,
Yet by then I may be nothing at all.
The new year 2020 is only days away,
I will set this free on new year's day.
Hopes and dreams to the future beyond,
This message set afloat this journey of long.
Many days, weeks, months and years,
Drifting endlessly till one-day this bottle appears.
The future is now connected to the past,
Unlocking many mysteries and questions at last.
But the greatest gift is my message lives on,
Showing love for humanity long after I'm gone.
Hello from the past, I hope your doing well,
It's now your turn for your future to tell.
Think of the next generations to come,
Your ancestors pass on the roots your from.
Without the connection our history will be lost,
Amnesia of humanity is too large a cost.
I'm a buoyant traveler of seas.
My cocooned message is to whom it may concern
A fisherman threw me in, and I'm lost; drifting aimlessly.
I'm riding on the crest of a wave not knowing if or when
I'll wash ashore. I don't know or care if I'll ever be found.
I sincerely hope I inspire whoever does in some way
Date written and submitted: 08/30/2019
Writing Challenge 4, August 2019 - Six Lines - Poetry Contest (Winner: 1st Place)
Sponsored by: Dear Heart - Wiishkobi Ode
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