Fathoms Deep

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It's fathomless, this *whirlpool*

we keep circling around

and around again.

Someone pulled the plug

eons ago, in case you were wondering.


So, here we are, spinning,

going nowhere, fast.


You demand to know details,

as if they'd keep you from slipping

into the funnel, as if

figures and facts

would compel you

to do what's necessary

to save yourself. Your family,

surely for them you'd muster up

a little of that western gumption

your ancestors were so proud of hawking

whenever the going got tough.


Without having to lift a finger

or make a difficult sacrifice,

you believe there's a way

out of this predicament: An arm

materializing out of the clouds

at the very last second, extending

a branch to the deserving.


Some profess to wish upon a star.

In the end, it makes no difference who you are.



* The image of the whirlpool is borrowed from Margaret Avison's poem

"The Swimmer's Moment"



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