.Pahn has gone for a walk
by himself
down the length
of the valley
on a straight road
through orchards
and houses
at night
Crossing under
the new
modern road
taking instead
the old
deserted road
on his way
to the ocean
He stops at a store
grey and wooden
poorly lit
with too little room
for its goods
Piteuss lives there now
She is sitting on a bench
and Pahn sits down to talk
She is not happy
and shows no interest in him
saying goodbye
with a detached
sweetness
…
The highway skirts the valley
along that recurring
range of hills
so dry
and rocky
or covered with brush
torn up
by the weathers
stripped in places
cut deeply
by ravines
Pahn meets wild
and enthusiastic
young people
exploring
in this littoral wilderness
And Pahn goes
west with them
toward the coast
through the dry pines
as the sun goes down
in green and orange light
…
coming to the ocean
by himself
down the length
of the valley
on a straight road
through orchards
and houses
at night
Crossing under
the new
modern road
taking instead
the old
deserted road
on his way
to the ocean
He stops at a store
grey and wooden
poorly lit
with too little room
for its goods
Piteuss lives there now
She is sitting on a bench
and Pahn sits down to talk
She is not happy
and shows no interest in him
saying goodbye
with a detached
sweetness
…
The highway skirts the valley
along that recurring
range of hills
so dry
and rocky
or covered with brush
torn up
by the weathers
stripped in places
cut deeply
by ravines
Pahn meets wild
and enthusiastic
young people
exploring
in this littoral wilderness
And Pahn goes
west with them
toward the coast
through the dry pines
as the sun goes down
in green and orange light
…
coming to the ocean
at a cove in daylight again
looking out
into the surf
They see there is
detritus
that appears to be
from a giant tea-set
perhaps
washed into the water
from The Boardwalk
Pahn knows
that in every storm
the sea takes a little
of the firm land
and
it was only a matter of time
before it washed away the rides…
…In a tempest now
Pahn has decided to go in
and clean up this flotsam
The storm
is throwing balls of ocean
like comets
or missiles
into the shore
Wading in
dodging
the airborne waves
throwing plastic parts
back to his friends
he reaches
the teakettle
caught in an eddy
pulling it to safety
But as he wades
back to shore
the teapot becomes
a small pail
and there is something
wriggling inside
Looking
into the bucket
he finds an octopus
that clings to his fingers
like a need
And
when it is released
it runs
to the lap of a friend
turning into a little boy
This boy tells his story
of how he
and his little sister
got washed away
and how he
took his little sister
and turned her
into a spider crab
putting her upside down
in a teacup
And he says
she is out there still…
…Pahn goes
to a store
on the promontory
where the boy and his sister lived
and puts the boy in a corner
on a mat
like a dog
where he is safe
but ignored by
the owners/parents
who don’t seem to care
about him
and though they are sad
about their other child
they would make no effort
to find her
They appear to think
that one can’t reclaim
such a small child
from the ocean
…
Pahn can’t bear
to leave
the girl in the ocean
He walks along the shoreline path
to the next cove
passing through
along the way
a small shopping center
with a safe enclosed area
for children to play
It is new and
crowded with joy
There are happy
caring adults
in the stores surrounding
and Pahn is impressed
by what a good job
they have done
looking out
into the surf
They see there is
detritus
that appears to be
from a giant tea-set
perhaps
washed into the water
from The Boardwalk
Pahn knows
that in every storm
the sea takes a little
of the firm land
and
it was only a matter of time
before it washed away the rides…
…In a tempest now
Pahn has decided to go in
and clean up this flotsam
The storm
is throwing balls of ocean
like comets
or missiles
into the shore
Wading in
dodging
the airborne waves
throwing plastic parts
back to his friends
he reaches
the teakettle
caught in an eddy
pulling it to safety
But as he wades
back to shore
the teapot becomes
a small pail
and there is something
wriggling inside
Looking
into the bucket
he finds an octopus
that clings to his fingers
like a need
And
when it is released
it runs
to the lap of a friend
turning into a little boy
This boy tells his story
of how he
and his little sister
got washed away
and how he
took his little sister
and turned her
into a spider crab
putting her upside down
in a teacup
And he says
she is out there still…
…Pahn goes
to a store
on the promontory
where the boy and his sister lived
and puts the boy in a corner
on a mat
like a dog
where he is safe
but ignored by
the owners/parents
who don’t seem to care
about him
and though they are sad
about their other child
they would make no effort
to find her
They appear to think
that one can’t reclaim
such a small child
from the ocean
…
Pahn can’t bear
to leave
the girl in the ocean
He walks along the shoreline path
to the next cove
passing through
along the way
a small shopping center
with a safe enclosed area
for children to play
It is new and
crowded with joy
There are happy
caring adults
in the stores surrounding
and Pahn is impressed
by what a good job
they have done
with the playground…
…He reaches the next
cove
little different from the last
He dives in
and opens his eyes
under the water
trying to see anything floating
that might be a spider crab
or a baby
As he swims
he realizes
that he is slowly
being pulled
out into the ocean
Afraid of the tide
he swims across the current
to where
the water is moving
back toward the shore
Soon he touches the rocks
and tide-life again
He makes a thorough search
and though
he finds many spider crabs
hanging under rocks
none of them are little girls
…
Making his way
onto the shore
Pahn is now
a strong and stocky
middle aged
professional woman—
an archeologist
looking at specimens
of spider crabs
under glass with the fossils
and minerals
she can see the rings on her own finger
with the precious stones
that she has found over the years
the treasures
of the tide-pools
Quite alone
she is thinking
of her search
talking to herself
she says
she could dissect the dead crabs
and send them
to a lab
to see if one of them
were that little girl
but it wouldn’t help now
because they are dead
And she says
she could go back
into the ocean
to search some more
but the ocean is too vast
and the crabs
too hard to find
and besides
The girl would be a creature
of the water now
of dreams
or the subconscious
and couldn’t survive
…He reaches the next
cove
little different from the last
He dives in
and opens his eyes
under the water
trying to see anything floating
that might be a spider crab
or a baby
As he swims
he realizes
that he is slowly
being pulled
out into the ocean
Afraid of the tide
he swims across the current
to where
the water is moving
back toward the shore
Soon he touches the rocks
and tide-life again
He makes a thorough search
and though
he finds many spider crabs
hanging under rocks
none of them are little girls
…
Making his way
onto the shore
Pahn is now
a strong and stocky
middle aged
professional woman—
an archeologist
looking at specimens
of spider crabs
under glass with the fossils
and minerals
she can see the rings on her own finger
with the precious stones
that she has found over the years
the treasures
of the tide-pools
Quite alone
she is thinking
of her search
talking to herself
she says
she could dissect the dead crabs
and send them
to a lab
to see if one of them
were that little girl
but it wouldn’t help now
because they are dead
And she says
she could go back
into the ocean
to search some more
but the ocean is too vast
and the crabs
too hard to find
and besides
The girl would be a creature
of the water now
of dreams
or the subconscious
and couldn’t survive
the light of day
.
.
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