Rorschach Test

I lurch through darkness,

Like a sailor in the port of Manila,

Eager to find the spinning basket trick.


And you said you would not move on again…

You said you would settle,

Be normal,

Do as others do.

All kinds of nasty worms are in you,

Weeviling under and through…


I have sat on the steps of cathedrals

In miscellaneous cities,

Pondering and watching the crowds,

All the nameless people I will never meet,

My brothers and sisters.


In ten million years, the scientists say,

Men will become extinct.

Their chromosomes were defective all along.


From the Devonian and Carboniferous oceans

The shark has swum relentlessly on

Through millions of years, voracious, unstoppable,

While other species have perished all around,

On and on he cruises, seeking prey,

Cannily improving his design,

Nostrils tuned to the scent of blood, however minute,

The ampullae of Lorenzini under his snout

Detecting the far-off struggles of a wounded fish

Or the subtle respiration of a crab.


When does the next ship leave?

You know I will be on it,

Leaning off the taffrail, spitting into the wake.