They don’t want you
wreckdiving
for fear, they say,
of sharks.
For fear,
they say, of you
getting trapped and
being swallowed.
Somewhere
in the wreckage
maybe an explanation
and perhaps a breath
of truly fresh air.
It makes no sense
but maybe under the waves
there’s a better flag there,
one you could stand for
and salute in a clean
upright way in spite of
all the ocean above you
with its weight of
drowned history. Or,
maybe it won’t be
that way at all for you
and you’ll come back up
struggling and gulping
but at least you’ll know.
You’ll know how the bodies
went overboard and how
rescue was forbidden or at least
restrained. You can decide then
whether or not you want to swim back
to the shore you left where
they’ll be waiting for you
with the same faces
they’ve always shown you,
and what you want to say
and do as you come up on shore
with new eyes for them
and their own suffocating fear.
April 27th, 2022 at 5:27 pm
This made me smile. Big.