naked like a ribbon i offer you i offer you the darkness of the knot with which i fasten myself— to the mast of myself— against the disturbances of balance the darkness of the knot i’ve forgotten plenty but i remember saying darkness is mine and i’ll live with both as long as i still have light i said it with my mouth full of water years and years ago when i wasn’t exactly this one that now offers herself nor was i entirely someone else i said it to one person and to another person and to no person or to myself within the darkness of the knot with my mouth full of water from the crashing sea the crashing sea unanchors words from my mouth that says i see with a consciousness of limit and horizon not without frustration and wonder i know i have a fever because i feel my skin burning to the side of my flesh beneath my consciousness where i dive and immerse myself where i chew on the possibility of floating and of sinking from one side of ...