In the Sea
A beautiful woman who is pleasing to men is good only for frightening fish when she falls into the water.
— Zen proverb
Silver, glittery as scales, the sea shatters
and scratches; plummeting through my reflection
I scatter fish from the surface.
Down here their continual mouthing
measures my descent like a pulse.
The gills scull and feather; the cellulose eyes
are stupid and dull as death.
Breath gone viscid
I am out of my element: greenish queen
of the sea, in ferny crown and watercress garment,
I turn, turn in the weeds, in the deep
spasm of tides, under the dark weight
where dumb, sightless, transparent forms
mumble and push, unamazed.