Damaged Cell

a membrane between worlds

impenetrable yet viscous

like a spider creeps across the water

I’ve barely touched the film

 

barely touching I’m trapped right-side-up

unable to sink unable to see beneath

the mirror surface of the water

 

I crawl on all fours

while the water scrapes my hands

and knees and the cell wall dividing

is breaking and cracking with

a sound not unlike a child’s whimper

 

you know the kind of cry you gave

when you woke up alone in the dark

 

as a child I sat at the lakeshore on grey mornings

throwing stones disturbing turbid waters

my feet only half submerged in doubt