Wanted ad:
Will swim for treasure
Wherever it’s stashed
If sharks attack
Will attack them back
Dear Reader,
I’m aghast
Your message is
A news flash
Or something like that
I was typecasted
To reenact
A romantic’s clash
With true desire
Causing absurdist whiplash
As I thrashed and splashed
Toes tied to the topmast
Of a sinking ship
Which finally crashed
Into the walls
Of the vast glass
(God forbid it gets cracked)
I’ve rehashed and rehashed
The message in the bottle
Sent from me to me
By me for me
My stowaway finally smashed
So it reads:
Has the past been unmasked?
Have you become unattached?
Your actions still react?
Still hauling around that butt shaft
You daft ass?
Marooned on an island
You still fear an attack?
Tick tock
Clickety clack
Clinging to that contract
When in fact
It’s all an act
For all I lack
Is retracted
Here and now
I can’t exist in the past
So I patch up the timelapse
And sail through the redacted now
When necessary
I swim
Through The Great Contrast
Of before and after
This and that
If sharks attack
I allow them to pass
And the only task
At hand
Is never to become trapped
In the future or past
I befriend the only thing
Which lasts
Overcoming the slapdash
As the everlasting flame
Turns the finest things
Into black ash
All plans hatched
Wane and wax
With the tidal winds
Disappearing in the draft
But the insight of now
Is unmatched
And its potential
Is untapped
Patience & Acceptance
Are virtues that don’t latch
Remain in Awareness
And relax
That rapturous blast
Is here and now at last
In stark contrast
to whatever
the past
asked
Whatever the past
expected
the present
to outrun
or outlast
Whatever it was
or would be
it’s
no
longer
that
Whatever it was
I have
surpassed
at last.
Sincerely,
The Artist Formerly Known As Robert LaSalle
Written the morning of September 10, 2024
Submitted to Poetry Magazine & quickly forgotten
P.S. I’m tossing the bottle overboard
I have no need for this crap
My past is a brash mass
Of unrequited desires
Unmasked as trash