it's not true
that a ship passed one morning
within a few miles
and I had nothing ready
to make a sign
it's not true
that I wanted to starve then
that I spread my body in the water
to die also of drowning
that I left my head out of the sea
to die also of sunstroke
that I thought of all that is basest and lowest in the world
to die also of indignity
that I opened all the deaths around me like gas pipes
and waited
it's not true
that I used my days to sand my legs
to rub them with a mother-of-pearl powder
that rendered them silver
it's not true
that I kissed the platypus
I rummaged through her pockets
and found nothing
...
Pivoting on the intractable bliss that binds me to the coast
I measure the angular distance between a starting point
and a remarkable point on the coast.
