Sink or Swim

Life flows, as unconstrained by plan as a

Surging river can be held by its accustomed

Banks. The current says Here I go, and

There I am, deposited downstream on some

Unexpected shore, wet and irritable and

Wondering how the fuck I got there,

Wringing out my underwear and contemplating

The possibility I am, in essence, one of those

Virtual particles, popping out of the

Vacuum at this random point in space and time

Or, perhaps, the macro-sized equivalent of

An electron quantum leaping from one

Orbital to another, the world my atomic

Host, a sort of soggy Scott Bakula, my

Water-logged brain struggling to wrap itself

Around the whatever wherever I suddenly,

Unexpectedly am and simultaneously,

Stupidly, maddeningly charting another

Course that could not be held by the

Strongest swimmer when the next rain

Raises the river from its bed. Still,

Here’s a backstroke, here’s a crawl

To break up the insouciant float—at least

This time I’m wearing my bathing suit.

3/30/2023