budd

blackbeard the pirate and sinbad the sailor went to sea with joe the jailor who looked upon the waves of blue and said o fellows this won't do some form of order we must tailor the waves stretch out in all directions no blocks, no cells, no numbered sections how can you bring me to this place can you not see in my poor face the terror of infinite disconnection sinbad was silent, blackbeard beguiled the ship ran on a thousand miles the waves grew furious, then meek they saw an albatross - in its beak was the treasure of a thousand isles they cried out as the great bird neared but wept when it then disappeared and then above the surging flood they saw the face of billy budd who dropped on them a single tear

hesitation

thanks to nooshin azadi, for the idea for this poem

i dreamed in another life i was a monkey sitting on the shore of a desert island trying to catch a fish and behind me in the jungle a terrible beast roared i was all these things i was the monkey that sat and the fish that swam and the beast that roared and i was a grain of sand on the beach and a wave in the ocean and a beam from the sun i was all these things and more because life is a dream yes, life is a dream i know this and yet i hesitate to jump off tall buildings walk in the traffic or sleep in the river