when it was understood
it could not happen

fast or all
at once, the world

became my enclosed
space, my trial

zone—small
scrimps like the backyard

metal rake scraping
concrete rather than

one vertical
slit, or a christening

by walking
farther and farther

out—the water
trustworthy, the

edge, intimacy

the skill to
connect into one dull

flow, able to...