For Charles Entrekin

“Insula, insulae…”
 
As an exercise, exaggerate in Latin.
 
I was getting used to the idea
of walking, reading the text
down through the forest
to the sea—
 
Think how impressed you’ll be
when I can quote Catullus!
 
Passer, Passerculus, Passerella…
The woods are full of sparrows.
 
And sometimes what is called
affectionately
the “real” world
is precisely—
you have to point to it,

as stepping

from the forest, there abruptly is
the sea—
the yellow-green, indigo blotchy cold body
of thought, from which (we have been told)
we have emerged.
 
The soul, peninsular, has wet feet.
 
“O Oysters, come and walk with us!”

 

If you are interested in the Lewis Carroll inspiration for this poem,”The Walrus and the Carpenter,” you can find the link here. The recorded reading is excellent.