_56. Sea Creature

A man stands on the beach and fishes
with his head blithely skewed
and eyes closed.
Rapture of the shepherd
of the sea.
He tugs his line,
his governance of the
ocean’s idiot marionette,
which cries beastly
and weeps:
a cloud bedded down
and wet with dying.
But no, the man’s eyes
shut, commandeer,
there is no end.
The ocean’s limbs twist,
twist and spray
become the sky
leave salt
on the shepherd’s palms.