you say you want an evolution

On Land

i crawl from the amniotic sea,
incomplete

gulping at air,
the cry of oxygen
screaming for release
from the drown of aqualungs

a wave of sound breaking across

geographies,

generations,

genomes

spittled lips quivering
without the insulation
of ocean

their blue tremble
sucking, suckling
the damp, dank dew
of new morning

before reason

before love

before hate
before language

before locomotion

before civility

before literacy

before art

before religion

before science

before history

before puberty

before philosophy

before intoxication

before sex

before college
before war

before work

before taxes

before bureaucracy

before marriage

before children

and well before

mortality's slow creep of decay
and the discovery of

desire,
disillusionment,
desperation,
despair,
disappointment,
derision,
denial,
delusion,
doubt

each in their own way

more embittered,

more a betrayal
than a thousand deaths

but here,
on this beach,
i am alive,
the water lapping
at feet that know
no callous

dragging myself
through the sands of time
behind me, ahead of me

with a grain of salt
taken from the sea i leave