listen and read

Do not disturb the sea in this house.
Do not make waves by leaping to fear.
Even a wake like a muskrat’s through reeds
upsets the house Neptune, the angry
face behind trident and storm.

Do not think less of yourself, caged,
longing like the shipwrecked for a shore.
Even boats fail here, their hulks
quaver underwater among wrecks
of armchairs, tables, beds, shadowed

stumps in channels of light.