The Rabbit and the Shark – a Fear and High Tale
Oh my.
Oh no.
Oh goodness no!
You.
How I dread (and long for) your familiar gaze –
how it haunts me!
I know it as well I know my own tail;
my own nose; my own hole!
You with your sleek, silver skin reflecting
all the sky’s blue off of itself,
and into my red eyes.
You with your razor-blade teeth –
(how I envy them!)
I loathe them for their whip
like bite.
But most of all
it is your eyes
that drive me to sweat
atop my bed of soft leaves
until my white fur is matted
and smelling
of the most intimate fear.
The fear of parting lovers.
Those empty black bowls, like pits
into hell!
Two ways to find me
before I can scream;
two ways to see me
within midnights dream;
two ways to mark me
outside of myself –
but O’,
how I love the high upon waking!
I am alive!
Alive to see another day!
Alive to praise the great mother once more!
You, old friend, make me live!
You’ve been with me
long before my mother’s taught womb –
you of the ocean, and I
of the land –
a dream, a myth, a certainty
perhaps that we were once
called brothers.
When life on land and ocean
were not mutually exclusive, and we
of the same either - or could breath
within either.
You are so much a part of me, that if
I were to leave you buried
beneath the graveyard mounds of my mind,
I feel I would parish! as surely as if
you grew limbs and found me,
as you once did,
on the land of my waking dream.
But now is now, and those days –
like your limbs and my gills,
are long gone.
So for now we shall meet in the dark
of my dreams;
where ocean and land come together
to dine –
you on my body, and I
on your soul.
*Written for Matt Caliri's Funniest-Hardest Poem Ever Contest. ;)
Post Comments
Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.
Please
Login
to post a comment
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a
Premium Membership.
