Gnat

See how distant
I am now?  See me waving
to the horizon from
the far horizon?

See how I am —

it’s like I walked as far away as I could
and then jumped up and down
shouting, “See me!  See me!”

That, I think,
explains everything
from my explosions
to my sadness to my
unruly and mistaken
hair.

Why,
I might be air itself:
invisible and everywhere.
I might be weather
that is always coming and going
and present at once.

But no, I’m nothing at all
like that —

more like the damn gnat
you can’t slap and which won’t go.
More and more like that
no matter where I stand,

or how far I run.