Procession

Now that I notice it is my much beloved body which has been

drifting back and forth beneath the pier underwater

I am becoming more sympathetic to snails

After all, what do oysters want

Seals are shy

And what is the matter with putting up a playful fin among the

swimmers

Thus we march forward into a future

Arms akimbo legs akimbo head akimbo

Hair akimbo as it gradually drifts away

There is so much that is akimbo here that there is hardly any

room to be "awry"

Forward forward forward

Into a privileged area where a curious conglomeration

Of currents and sand have made out a little space

Out of the wind out of the rain out of the unmanageable crowds

Who flow over the sense of privacy, and among whom

Any umbrella is easily lost

Some day all things will be water that battleship

Which you see bounding on the main will be liquid or gaseous

Its captain and its crew

The spinster with her what-not shelves the teamster with his graft

The subways with their calming quality the grass with its dis-

turbances

Lapels with all their pallor and graveyards with their sheen

All will be water all will be pouring

Descending from the skein of the firm and the packed

There is no pleasanter exercise on earth than metamorphosis

Time passes

And all the things that we love must be changed