on the Sea: (a dry slab)

 

 

i liked the dry slab of meat on bread

you fixed me for lunch.

i woke from a dream
i was swimming in a sea.
it was just a few minutes
before the alarm was to go off.
that anger at having lost
3 minutes of slumber.
i couldn’t get back to sleep now
since i was trying
too hard
to get back to sleep quickly.
my body was living now & i
was entering the sea
of perpetual real life,
crawling up from the depths
in a bubble filled cage,
the translucence pressing
hard against my head.

i lay there awhile, then
pressed the damn off button.
i lay there more until you yelled
"are you going to work today?"
yes i'm going to work baby,
this is the fucking sea, it's what i do,
an expert swimmer in a sea of crap.

right now i'm in a cool pond.
the sheets feel milky
against my finger tips.
i'm safe under the sheets.
the pillow is a life vest.
i am floating softly.
i'm floating away to where
the pond meets the stream
which meets the river
which meets the bay
which meets the sea.

there, i am in the sea now,
not knowing how i got here.
i'm an expert swimmer bobbing
on the heavy putrid waves.

i liked the dry slab of meat on bread
you fixed me for lunch today.

Mark David Jordan, 2011