The Taste of Saltwater

I fell off the boat

man-overboard!

the rescue never found me

the eleven o’clock news put me between

a drunk driver mini-van family fiasco

and a faceless, homeless man beaten to death

8 seconds and then I was forgotten

I drifted on angry, lonely, crested pushes

rocked to lullaby on ocean currents

they went to my funeral

the albatross told me

or was he a seagull

I floated out there

learning to swim

I actually found a rhythm

that made treading water a song

and there were Men-of-War all around

It was the porpoise that taught me purpose

I began to enjoy the taste of saltwater

imagining it to be the creek of dreams and crawdads

I built a religion on being lost

not found, drift wood’s destiny

Sooner or later, I feared someone would find me

and molest the serenity from my heart

I don’t know how long it was. It was forever, enough for me.

Then I found your shore

washed up willingly 

your sandy beach

glittering and warm

I remember waking

feeling the sun on my back, the sun’s heat emanating from the golden sand under my chest and belly

then the tide gentleness delivered me inch by inch on to the island of your soul

I had been so long at sea, that I could only rest, breathing easy smile face rest.

On the shore I lived, never never venturing into your forest, I imagined terrible things there,

I tried to leave little footprints

I sang songs to the sand, to the pelicans,

 through my makeshift kelp microphone,

I worshipped it all

the nights were beautiful stars on ocean reflection magnificence

sweating and howling like wild things

primal

Hurricane season turned out to be a real bummer.

the wind started up

changing directions and forces and always sharp, never wrong

the rains chilled the flesh and made me beg for sunshine

like when I begged for my mother to not really be dead

In the night my hut ripped from the earth

tossed to the sea

I held on to a tree in the storm

not willing to give up

believing in the warmth

afraid of the cold sea

torn from the shore

I floated again

wondering if I would ever see that island

unsure if it would ever be the same

choppy aggressive waves tossing me around

relearned the rhythm of surviving

I'll take my chances with the sharks

sensing a belonging coming over me

I think I can learn to love the taste of saltwater.