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# Release
- URL: https://dianaludwick.com/release/
- Published: 2026-01-07T14:25:40.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:12:56.000Z
- Description: “Release,” a rumination on letting go of control and yielding to the larger universe. Poem 007 in a series of 365 poems written in 2026 by Diana Ludwick.
- Author: Diana Ludwick
- Tags: 2026 Poetry Challenge, Poems, #Migrated-1792872215677, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-24 20:03

“Neutral, *neutral*!”  
The car wash attendant thrusts his hand urgently  
At the instruction board to my left.  
  
My gaze slides towards the sign:  
“Put car in NEUTRAL   
Windshield wipers OFF  
Foot OFF brake  
Do NOT touch ANYTHING!”  
  
This automatic cleansing mission is  
Typically undertaken by my husband;   
I am not savvy in the rules of engagement.  
  
The wipers I managed;  
Shifting into Neutral was an unfamiliar  
Yet achievable demand.  
  
But removing my leaden foot  
From its unremittent grip  
Against the brake pedal?  
  
Absurd.  
  
With conscious focus   
Halted by cavernous incredulity   
I compel myself to release  
The intense pressure of my right foot on metal  
Until my boot sole lays inert  
On the all-weather floor mat.  
  
This is wrong, my body tells me.  
You have lost control!  
My brain screeches.  
  
The untamed car and I,  
We jolt forward, as chain pulley activates.  
  
Physically tethered   
Mentally undone and  
Awash without sovereignty,  
My hands fall limp, off the wheel.  
  
Plunged into darkness   
I passively navigate through  
Crimson kelp forests,  
Row upon row of   
Foam fettuccine curtains.  
  
Forcibly at flow  
I bobble along as   
A roaring sea  
Drowns out my cerebral turbulence.  
  
Eyes alight up, out, left, right  
As I scan my portholes  
Absorbing the bizarre environs.  
  
Psychedelic solvent bubbles  
Spurt and swirl  
Flow and grow and burst, then fly away.  
  
My shoulders sense defeat   
And release their soldier’s attention.  
My back slumps, connecting with lumbar cushion,  
A rare moment at ease.  
  
Swish  
 Swoosh  
Plunk  
 Pfftt   
  
Alien noises and senses  
In surround sound.  
  
Now the buffers:  
Parallel whirling dervishes  
Overcome my flanks  
Blurs of scarlet, cherry, ruby, burgundy   
Encompass me.  
  
Immersed in a vortex.  
The mop fibers become   
Interstitial tissue.  
  
Ensconced in blood ripe flesh  
In pulsing walls;  
A glowing red womb.  
  
A hush, a settling force subdues me.  
Anxiety melts into awe.  
  
In trance state, rocking along with the car  
I see myself hold my phone, point outward and capture  
Candid frames of vibrant motion.  
  
A choir of dryers appear,  
Enormous black whistles affixed to the ceiling.  
  
All remaining thoughts   
Are vanquished by their dull whirring;  
  
White noise more effective  
Than any of my paid meditation apps.  
  
Beads and rivulets of shining waters  
Run across my vista  
Driven by uncanny pressure  
While my own PSI deflates.  
  
An approaching signal flashes yellow:  
Not yet, not yet, not yet.  
  
Now green:  
You are free, it telegraphs.  
  
As I shift my transmission  
Into Drive  
I emerge the tunnel  
A different person.  
  
Overcast sun floods my dash.  
  
My oft frenetic psyche is   
Now as scoured and wrung out  
As my vehicle’s undercarriage.  
  
Relieved, revitalized;  
Released.