looking in at your element

I am swimming upriver to reach you
when you would have come down;
there are thirty nautical miles remaining

I appear as the gasping prune on
your radar [brane defiance]

defy once—come back, back
the stones, tall, stacked; come
to Far, a long island

I follow willow boughs, their tips
dip along the banks—graduated
depth, displacement, confidence

grab one
stop
for breath

as you can see me,
a speck where you stand

but you cannot hear me, which
is better for you for now;

you should not see me so wet as I am;
things exist you should not hear, smell,

feel: paddling, swallowing salt water taste
& the trout, pea brains, taking me to school.