LINE BREAKS (at GUARDRAILS)

the sitting and waiting

is killer. you were never one

to study. looking is what you

are doing now. calves kelp

in the water. the spot

is new. hands cup

into the current. back arches.

there is a self that goes

before you. it comes

and it goes. too far out

and you will never catch it. too far in

and the experiment startles.

on two legs you can carve

into the monument moving.

you can seek an invisible grain.

balanced in the wake below you

is all physics and trajectory and

a force like feathers you need not

understand. just stand. bend and sway,

you are on a sudden incline. you

do not need to understand it all,

and yet your arms are flapping—

and you are more stone than bird.

words ding into yelps and splashes.

coral stabs and clings to new-

born skin. the board is in the belly

of some god you need not under-

stand—the shape-changing swell

of a sea witch. you doubt you will

ever ride again. you are certain,

and so you sit and you wait

and you wax with questions