dUNKED

Up from the bottom
  of an old pond,
  that duckling
has seen something strange.
     -- Joso (trans. Beilenson/Behn)


dUNKED

In those ocean dreams...

I want to bob on the top
of the water like a buoy
even though I know
if I don't dive down
I will be dunked

dunked again:

drawn down
by some force of nature--down
to dark depths
where faces float like jellyfish:

they seem so foreign
and yet I'm told
they're all a part of me--

even the women
even the animals
even the machines.

Occasionally I’ll witness
a face so luminous--
I burst to the surface with joy

but more often I'm greeted
by something much dimmer:
maybe a blank-eyed robot
or a drooling dog.

So next time I find myself
bobbing at the top
I may again resist
when I feel
that downward pull...

even though I know
I'll be dunked if I do

yes--dunked again.

© 2018, Michael R. Patton
what I learned while alone: poetry ebook