A train comes into the station with the sound
of a wave rushing to shore, which is also the sound
of time coming to a point. This is the moment
when a row of holiday-makers, waist deep in the sea,
greets the onset of a big swell with a jump
and an ecstatic cry. What is difficult to fathom,
without a train or wave, is that it is always happening,
everyone in unison raising arms in triumph or alarm,
water sliding under our feet.
Charisse Gendron is a former English professor living in Maine. She currently teaches literature and creative writing for Coastal Senior College in Newcastle and Maine Charitable Mechanics’ Hall in Portland.
The poetic voice of Charisse Gendron in this verse, I think, so vividly invites the experience of being at one with the passing moment and of timeless ecstasy. “Time coming to a point” and “everyone in unison raising arms” describes an experience of selfless oneness… the separate self relinquished in the ecstatic moment. I read her poetry, the four published here, and others I’ve had the opportunity to see, as opening a profound honesty about her life’s experience and offering us the gift of her uncommonly penetrating insight.
Charisse’s four poems are prisms of our everyday occurrences, they celebrate everyday happenings, putting them I a new and beautiful light. I find her writing stirring and alive, fusing action and thought. I look forward to reading her next poems.
I find Charisse Gendron’s poems to be very sensual. I feel the words creating physical sensations in my thoughts. Thanks for publishing her work. I would like to read more.
I truly enjoyed Charisse Gendron’s “Rave.” Her words so clearly created the image of the train, the people in the water, the water rushing back to the sea. It brought back memories of unadulterated joy and just being in the moment.
This woman evokes so much emotional depth. Her word choices are sharp and the images she employs are precise and relatable.