The Open Ocean

Can you imagine? The open ocean in every direction—

To swim your whole life in this all-surrounding,

seawater medium;

this slow, ever current-moving, immutable,

seawater medium,

between alternating sunlight

showering through some invisible veil above,

& the absolute black of night;

and a liquid obsidian darkness, eternal, below,

seemingly bottomless, cold, without boundaries—

Can you imagine? No kelp forest, no seaweeds, no reefs,

no rocks, no holes to hide in, no sanctuary to retreat to,

no materials to build a shelter, no home,

there is no need

for a home, not even a temporary resting place,

but to be endlessly drifting or swimming,

drifting or swimming,

with myriads upon myriads of others

drifting or swimming,

drifting or swimming,

in this ceaseless, rhythmic, all-surrounding,

seawater medium.

It is an utterly otherworldly existence here,

on our planet—

What would you know of the above surface world?

These dark plowing ship hulls that pass overhead,

these sudden strange nets governed by strange forces

that slowly pass through

your world—

You would know nothing of the ethereal medium

of air,

unless caught & brought up by one of these strange nets

by strange forces cast, the mysterious unseen on high.

But you might not return to tell

what you

had seen.

1999