BIRTHDAY POEM
there was
an eagle
at my window
a snake
trying to get
under my door
and me
trying to make
love to you with
a cold power that
might only be described
as reptilian
perhaps you would like to join me
at a banquet supposed
to celebrate change
there with the sharks
and the squid, just off
the coast, at the bottom
of the Indian Ocean
on the rusted through main deck
of a ship I once knew
and travelled in
from continent to
continent, across the Equator
but sometimes things
change so much we are
flooded by the impact
we see the waves come crashing
know we are out
of our depth
today, on my birthday, I
did not get
as deep as I had wanted to
and not
just in the course of this poem
be that as it may
the snake and the eagle
have things to say
a day
of earth and
sky (not
sea)
to consider
