When We Were Dolphins

When we were dolphins and Poseidon paused,
gladdened by an afterthought, over-wrought,
& then the whole thing reduced to a single thought,

he glanced at us, the auditorium
turned to schools of fish
concerned with future, fins, Peter Frampton-like.

We ourselves headed out to sea,
the men in skiffs, boats and trawlers
failed in the illegible, the legible, the meaning.

Their nets from Cambodia to Catalina
flower like history, bob up and down
when dust doesn’t stand a chance.