Thoughts on Beaches

I…
want to attain
the unattainable.

I want to touch
the untouchable.

I want to think
the unthinkable

sink the unsinkable
shake the unshakeable
and break the unbreakable.

I want to write a letter to Whitman himself
and tell him that I too contain multitudes.

I am young. Just 21.
I’ve got the wind at my back
and the world at my fingers.

I want to educate the children.
I want to feed the hungry.
I want to stop the wars
and start a garden.

I WANT TO HOLD IN ALL THE WATERS OF THE WORLD

but
it just keeps slipping
through my hands like a sieve.

Photo by Amanda Grupp.  Words by Shannon Wilson.

Forgotten

I remembered the cake,
but I forgot the knife.

I remembered the tickets,
but I forgot my mit and hat.

I remembered the date,
but I forgot the time.

I remembered the poem,
but I forgot the lines.

Photo by Fred Watford.  Words by Shannon Wilson.

Laboratories

Scientific method

experimentation

calculation, compartmentalization

explain, label, classify

rectify, engineer, rebuild

They say it’s in our nature.

That need to figure it out.

To Analyze it.

Hypothesize it.

Revolutionize it.

Divide it.

And conquer it.

And thank God

for breathing us that nature

because without it we would have

no flat screens

no oil rigs

no warheads, web porn, or wall street.

If I poor A into B

what will explode?

Curiosity

is our nature.

And it just wouldn’t be our nature

to stand and simply marvel

at the hills

cutting notches out of the horizon

without trying to determine

whowhatwhenwherewhy

they were cut?

And how can we cut them down?

Photo by Amanda Grupp.  Words by Shannon Wilson.