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Overboard
I dreamt I was pushed over the edge
Before I was ready to jump
And the surface stung like a jellyfish’s caress
As I sunk in the pusher’s tears—
Herman Melville’s agony—
And anchored to my ankle was
Moby-Dick
And I gurgled the ocean with a fleeting sense of
Poetic justice
As the cold watery locker
Reclaimed my lungs &
The sun sailed & vanished—
Would it dive in &
Resurface my aching bones?—
How was I to know?
A killer poet (& poet killer)
Was on the loose
And a line by Renata Adler
Rattled my suffocating mind:
Lonely people see
Double entendres everywhere—
Would Melville attend my estate sale
And buy my library wholesale?—
How was I to know?
The deep salty palace believes not in
Reinvention
But I don’t pretend to
Speak for the darkness
Accepting me blindly—
Blithely—
Which is to say
Here I’m treasured
Even though I arrived by way of
Sitting on a powder keg—
Then I woke up & choked on my spit.
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About the Author: Alex Z. Salinas is the author of two full-length poetry collections: WARBLES and DREAMT, or The Lingering Phantoms of Equinox. He is also the author of a book of stories, City Lights From the Upside Down. He holds an M.A. in English Literature and Language from St. Mary’s University. He lives in San Antonio, Texas.
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Image Credit: Chase Dimock “Chain-Link Ocean” (2022)
As It Ought To Be 