I Go Into the Shark
I say I think I hesitate
These places I have avoided are like coral
Crusted piling upon themselves
Did I choose the most difficult reef
Did it choose me enclose me imprison me
Inside the reef I avoid the sharks
Circling pausing hunting
They smell my open wounds
They taste me in little waves little currents
Eddies of me in red and pink and white white flesh
I wait still silently shrieking against my selected cage
As each horror swims by slowly closer then farther
Until the cage is the horror the pain the place I can no longer stay
I find strength building it slowly over years
I prepare evaluate study and then
GRAB THE FIRST GODDAMN SHARK BY THE MOUTH
CLIMB INSIDE AND LOOK AROUND AND TEAR MY WAY OUT
ALIVE I AM ALIVE AGAIN
BRING ON THE NEXT ONE
August 2000
