All at Sea

Camp Mingo Nirvana peek-show
northeast ohio end-all-dreamy-
thursday afternoons :
it is sunny as the Lord’s Day
& no kids play in the park

but me & a lean stray cat
who danced his paws on my stomach
& circled my calves 5 times
in ritual gesture of what I
was afeard of.

For two minutes the sweat shook me
like future heroes come back thru
comic-book-aerosol trees
to suck your breath
before you get to them
and become them.

I became what I am
whatever I am today in the sea
or yesterday in another sea
by keeping my head above water :

a painted JuGgLeR
keeping it all in the air
the air that is road
for the tones we give off
the notes we sing invisibly to another
or all others
or nobody
shall come back invisibly
in dream-ocean sleep

and sound their harpy guitars in
WAVE UPON
WAVE UPON
ENDLESS MOTION of future notes
with fraulein-hungry mermaid arms ringed
with circles of ringing alarm clocks

each afloat and waiting
for one lost dew drop
to wake up
and drop silently one with
future constellations and
the dropless one-time silent sea.