Negative

Of course it’s not.Were you angry, wereyou sad? Are youa disgruntled formerof the earth? Youhave company. I knowsome walks can getyou nowhere. I’ve seenone child take awaya toy from anothernot because they wantedthe lamb or trainor drum, but theysaw the other kidso happy with it.And a “no” erupts,a need to negatewhat might be someone’sfavorite thing. When Ifirst saw what youdid, I yelled acrossthe water, startling swanswith their bottoms upthrough air and beaksdeep in dioxane-plumed mudback to the surface.Their hearts can’t saywhat’s been done tothem either. And whydid you use sucha pastel Marian shadeof blue? Why doesyour X have thatstrange sense of elegance,patience, uncannily equal tothe word it cameto cancel? Almost asif it were youwho first wrote “Sea,”in a burst ofjubilant heresy, a fitof twenty-first-century Duchampianreverence, a mood wherethe world could bedifferent, where water itselfcould be baptized, revised.Then came a dayterribly certain that nobetter difference is coming.A day to recant,not erase, your work.A day like today.I feel it too.