Diving into
the Dead Sea
There are places
you can do it --
far from the eyes
of Muslims, Jews
and Christian tourists,
places where a
smooth abutment
of Holy Land
juts out into
gray-green water
like a marble slab --
offering no reflection
of earth, sky
or even yourself.
So take a last
deep breath
and dive in unbelief,
your hands flat
to guard your face...
There's no splash
just a viscous suck
as you sink weightless
like a pearl of goo
in a lava lamp;
for a few seconds
the complete inertia
of immortality--
the blind womb,
the I not I.
Then the salt stings-
your instinct fights
the counter-surge,
but all the same
it's rejecting you,
forcing you back
into the catastrophe
of creation--
wretching for breath,
sticky as a newborn.
