the sandbar shark in albuquerque
i’m in love with sharks in aquariums.
here’s the thing: there’s nothing that sucks me in
more than a shark tank in big cities.
there’s so many of them, and they’re all doing the same damn thing.
they go through every endless circle, over and over again.
i can’t tell if it makes me want to laugh or cry.
either way, when the blue light washes over me,
and i try to make eye contact with a blank-eyed sandbar shark;
that’s when i can breathe, that’s when it all goes quiet.
when i step out of the aquarium and look at a city i tried so hard to get to,
i have to wonder if i’m really any different, swimming around in the same circle,
just to start all over again, having gone nowhere at all.
