the big word

for a new world

Flood Waters, Claude Monet, 1896

youth

I loll beneath the willow  
sun-bleached moby dick
penguin spine snapped 
straddles the root 
jutting

along the river bank
a dozer pushes gravel 
there've been reports  
of early mountain thaw 
flooding

not concerned though . . . I 
am insouciant . . . I
know the big word
that will take me places . . . I  
and no one else 

serendipitous too
se-ren-dip-i-tous  
se-ren-dip-i-ty 
se-ren se-rene 
a serene dip
     dipity do
dew      rise 
do    dive
alive and
living

and when the waters rise 
burst the dike
lift this bronco boy 
wonder word surfer 
dude riding high 
on a willow . . . I
will say only ahh 
look look at me 
carefree deluge vagabond 
anti-ahab of the waves
borne who bodes where
sans all my sorrow all grief
into the waiting arms 
of new and gathering gods