Page 13 - Contrast2006

Martin Camper
THEY FOUND HIM BLOATED ON THE SHORE,
HIS MOUTH, HANDS AND EYES GAPING

For the drowning man ...
it wasn't the fact
that his lungs
had used up all the oxygen
in his air,
that his body couldn't help
but gulp
the dirty ocean
'til that was all there was in him,
'til he was water logged
and bulging-

but it was the trees and the sky
receding,
the light, the sun and the land
retreating,
his arms and his hands upturned and open,
reaching for what was more than air-

the water finally
Siphoning him off from life.

9