musing about the abyss

WATCHING BY A PAIR OF DOCKS

(a 5x6 poem)


The sea had long
Been a mystery—
A big fish wobbles
The surface and is gone—
Might as well be stone.

For us, the finny,
Fishy depths have long
Been a tomb far across
To the other side
Way down to the bottom.

We fingered fiends
Have the advantage. We
Can tool down to see
How love and laughter
Live within the sea.

There we can see
Neon and brilliantine,
Toothy gobblers in line;
Seems like any American
City on a Saturday night.

Fish can’t build a raft.
Any hole in a reef
Is their flat. How dull!
But we don’t have gills.
The ocean can’t flow through us.

Besides, any experienced
Waterfowl can tell you:
The mystery for the fish
Is up here
In the air.


April 1984


Another poem inspired by the bay. This, again, is a favorite poem because of its gentle irony, but no editor thought it was a winner. It was rejected several times by literary magazines. It was first published in City Magic, 1987.