As If From Why We Crawled Ashore

as if from why we crawled ashore


"but do not know exactly why,"
he said as if to muffle
what squirms in the bags
of exceptions & assumptions &
nominalizations of slippery
things that shadows bark
but she chose to hear it
as a command
as an approach to
the mystery
as a soft caress
as a sign of respect
as a kindness
for the awkwardness
of bald assertion
for naked lies
for muted malapropisms
for the weak & malformed
instances of fouled intention

* * *

"do not know exactly why"
but let it breathe
let it shuffle out
into the night
beyond the ropes of stars
& clouds & the cracks
of counted moments
let this feather
this drop of blood
this leaf so gold
fall into a place
where we cannot go
with our fantasies
our fears our hopes
let there be a place
where we do not feel

constrained to be good
to matter to be some cog
in a beautiful wheel of ecstasy
let us not know & feel okay with that
even feel a bit uncomfortable
& let that be the price worth

some small freedom
in a universe

we would wrap
in swaddling clothes
let us be a dreamer
without need
of a tended dream



Richard Lance Williams

Posted over on Mythopoetry