In the Sea

I’ve pulled in
All that I can take—
It’s a heavy wash with
An edge that continues to spread—
Widening without form,
Hands gravitating with
A mechanical need
To feel the solidity
Of every dip in the imagination,
Or the slow-burning joy
Of a desired orphic badge.
I’ve searched for rewards
In the humblest of crafts,
Eyes endlessly down,
With a steady susurration,
“Find what you love
And know the reason why.”
But I came to love it all,
And could dare not
To explain.

Arms crossed against the
Collegiate exchange—
One in one
The discussion unfolds
To unclothe each
Soft, wasted ape of
The invincible first design.
It is necessary—I know—
To play pretend
With those of the
Lofty, boldly assuming brow,
And still I cannot state before all
My wrecked assumptions.
They wait for recognition—
Fingers closing over the
Edge of the anchor—
All of us eyeless,
Grasping at nothing
And painfully unaware, as
The Great drifts lightly by.