It's all talk isn't it, emblem
and suggestion, it's either tremulous stutter
or taunting display: flashy but fleshless, a con man
plotting his way out of a ticket, concocting a story
to conquer and seduce. Once removed

it s safer to be the figure than the feeling.
On the whale watch I hid in the hold
because I didn't want the awe to wash over me—
so I scribbled the raven, cormorant and gull,
archaic signs, obsolete archaeological fragments,