Depths

by Laurie Keim

Step quietly, listen, there at the edge of the page
dark bottom of ocean, nozzle taken from your mouth
and bubbles return skyward without any sound
and soon nothing is anything else but silence.

Don’t confuse manic noise inside the mind
spinning like a hamster wheel, when speech falters
or biting one’s tongue in anger, respect or rage
for silence is absolute timeless presence.

You don’t hear silence, rather it hears you
unable to remember, honour or esteem
abolishing expectation until you stand as
raw witness of intoxicating being.

Unspoken phenomena visit you unseen:
in the depths there are fish as flat as paper
electronic eels writhing in the arteries
blood weed swaying, driven by different tides.

Unseen phenomena drop by unspoken:
stop there, in the depths, the nudge of current
presses against and the weight of atmosphere
pushes down and you know at last the core.