the druid joins the ocean

The shark circles the bikini

The depths darken with schools of cod

I stipple the seas with rain

Alpha apex super predator, hello

I’m not a shark, I’m a prime tuna

effacing the personality of the artist with my fins

I’m a gull in the skies of the living

and Juliet is the sun

and the sky is blue beyond the eyes of the most northern God

When I plunge the line is plumb

and I’m a bass again, unhooked

the chum all around me great gravy gobs of meat

there’s coral here, vermilion

and sentimentality in sediment

cinnamon detritus of the European mind

meanwhile along the coast white studs gallop on the grass

and beside me seahorses curl their tails, their babies in their bellies

nautiluses hide in the curves of their pale chambers

echoes mimic the waves

when, gentle water, when, full of grace

when will I hold you again?

will you stay mad forever?

are you not insanely in love with me

with my scales

my Apollonian/Dionysian split

my marbled abs

my fevered desire?

and back on shore below the stamping hooves

all the creeping beetles are all the men who want to taste your nipples

I wish I could swallow their whole tribe!

I am a warbler for flight again

I am a lion for the hunt

I am a bee for honey

The sweetness of the skimming waves

The cherry of your lips

The summer day shines along your thighs

And I, the correct man again

hold this heart to you, take this heart from you

Bless and sanctify your servants in their love, Adonai, kurios, dominus

Hear my confession, my seventh soul

take my hand within your ring

and complete the moon

the beak of the loon falling

like September night

within the body of the naked swimmer