The Burden

Knowing was a wrongstep for my mothers and fathers 

Knowing is a wrongstep for me. 

Start with Life is Good 

It all makes sense, the moving, the 

Feeling, the knowing. They all serve 

To extend the goodness. 

But start with Life is Not Good 

Or even Life is Bad, then every 

Falter is a wrongstep. The Turkish 

Fisherwoman, stirring her reel on 

The barren shallows. 

The ticking and crossing of a  

Reluctant teacher, 

Stimulating, stimulating 

Muscles made for something very 

Different. 

Just the carriers of life 

Wanted but the wanting unexplained 

Except that having makes us us 

Except that losing makes us nothing 

Nothing worse than us. 

Why is nothing worse than anything? 

Sunlight broken into birds by the water’s teeth 

Teem and chase again on the boat’s belly.