i look around me.  i see sea for miles.  i’m not quite sure how long i’ve been at this, you know, floating listlessly, while this ocean’s waters has its way with my weary body on some notion of tacit approval.  is this the way hemingway saw it?, through saline crusted lashes, constantly gasping for air, while treading just enough to.

or is this what whitman spoke of?, truly, literally becoming one with the natural world (oh my sea legs have failed me).  did i, excuse me, am i experiencing now what generations upon generations have already?  is this humanity’s experience?  i often think of you walt, what in the hell you meant, the world that inspired your words.  to feel the maritime flora and fauna brush by my legs as i readily submit to the whimsy of the currents is an experience neither cruel nor gay, but it merely is, it is. 

or maybe i am to take on the beatnik mantra, a bohemian sensibility of wanderlust.  to find satisfaction in loose ends and letting them unravel. 

all i’ve tasted is this saltiness in the back of my parched mouth for as long as i can remember. all i’ve felt is the unforgiving afternoon sun overhead, beating down on my neck for as long as i’ve been awake.  a piece of driftwood, swollen and rotted to the core, still floating, merely floating, barely floating, just floating.

whatshouldwecallme:

eavesdropping on a conversation between two anonymous people in a room in a house.

autch: what was in that space before?

hertz: oh, that space right there?

autch: (nods)

autch: it looks like there could have been an instrument there

hertz: perhaps, that’s not important now.

autch: (perplexed)

autch: so it’s just a void.

hertz: you could say it was avoidable, yes.

autch: that’s not what i..

hertz: was getting at? i know, but i’m trying to tell you something here.

autch: continue, please.

hertz: what would you like to know?

autch: how did it get there?

hertz: what

autch: the void!

hertz: it’s devoid of anything now, of everything.

autch: (visibly frustrated)

autch: we can stop this conversation if you’d like…

hertz: have you ever thought about how negative space becomes something in itself?

autch: not really…

hertz: yeah, that void has become its own entity

hertz: the emptiness of the void has substance to it, if you really think about it.

hertz: negative space is just as important to a space as much as the occupied space.

autch: a bit like how silence can be deafening at times?

hertz: yeah yeah, yes, exactly.

autch: so your point is..

hertz: i’m not sure really, but this void has taken on a life of its own.

hertz: it started at nothingness, a vacuum

autch: and now?

hertz: and now it’s living, breathing, consuming, just as much as you and i would.

hertz: (completely preoccupied in thought with furrowed brow and all)

hertz: it’s become a leviathan.

autch: i see

autch: okay, so… what was in that space before?

hertz: an organ