Wonderland

for Evi

You knew the boat waltz
the slant of horizon
rode wind and water well
a tacking jujitsu dancer

Gravity still exists
—you know this—
but on deck all goes vertical
The water-plundered boat flails
and you dance, body and soul
a tiny sol boat
riding waves taller than houses

The elements become enemies
But, really, it’s only wind over water
in a dispassionate molecular clash
Sun’s heat and earth’s spin drive them
You know this even now,
caught deep in the gyre

When was the moment
when you realized
your bit had tipped too far
slipped to a void?
always a void and always wide
horizonless and merciless

Somewhere below your trailing soles
terra firma waits
under miles of crushing water
You’re a spaceman
your severed air cord trails
tugged free from your world’s umbilicus

Before the last seawater gulp
were you serenerocked in that wild amniotic cradle
your death more vital than burnt ashes
as hundreds of marine souls waited to feed
and take you deep into wonderland?