trente-neuf: What A Feeble Thing You Are

LCA

Kodak Tri-X & Agfa CT Precisa
Seal Beach, California

March 2008

Long Ago Photos of Me by Bransen Samuelsen

I have come back, and still the sea
keeps sending me strange foam.
It does not get used to the way I see.
The sand does not recognize me.

It makes no sense to return
to the ocean without warning -
it does not know you return
or even that you were away,
and the water is so busy
with all its blue business
that arrivals go unrealized.
The waves keep up their song
and although the sea has many hands,
many mouths and many kisses,
no hand reaches out to you;
no mouth kisses you;
and you soon must realize
what a feeble thing you are.
By now we thought we were friends,
we come back with open arms,
and here is the sea, dancing away,
not bothering us.

I will have to wait for the fog,
the flying salt, the scattered sun,
for the sea to breath and breath on me;
because water is not just water
but a hazy intrusion,
and the waves roll on in the air
like invisible horses.

- Strangers on the Shore by Pablo Neruda


Last night I had a dream that I sailed all the way round this blue planet.
Today I'm seasick.