i watched the horizon
and imagined it bending and bending again
an eternal enigma, the final joy
to reach and discover that this indeed
is the end
the final frontier
i watched and lost the sand beneath my toes
with the tide sliding around me
the wind's liquid cousin
in the midst of it was something else
that pushed against my legs as against an intruder
and gave in the face of my firm flesh
but surrendered under duress and with protest
i looked and it was clear through
a plastic bag of the sort that mothers slide sandwiches into
and that are discarded in the midst of the sand and sun and freedom
it had wrapped itself with its open mouth
around a small portion of sea and then sliding shut
with its red zipper of a tongue
claimed it as its own and set it apart
i was amazed at this
a creature of identity so clearly defined
this then is me and this other
it is not
water in the midst of water
yet set apart
and suddenly i was afraid
for what i was and was not
a thin skinned bag of water
in the wide sea of waves
in the hungry sea of others just like me
stumbling and standing and swimming
against these things not us
and by running into them finding that indeed
they define us
they define me
and suddenly i am unsure of my skin
this wrinkled sheet that stretched so taut
once
and now shrugs across my stiff insides
like an old habit long bereft of meaning
i wonder if it too is transparent
if for the others wandering the stretch
my coiled sprawling insides show through
a mess of unclarity
a semi-system of insecurity and sureties
how terrible to be revealed and unsure
to be caught in the act of identity
and at the crucial moment
the final horizon
to fail
i stepped from the sea
at the end i plan to stand
upon my brave craft weary and worn
and quiet with courage
answer this.
who are you?
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