When someone looks at the sea,
Not when they are thinking vindictively
About fame and why they didn’t get
Their fair share, how to get back at
Someone—then, the mind is free,
Momentarily, the human ability to
Look and be free. But that’s only
On the boat. On solid ground,
Mind grinds to thinking, to be
Alert, witty, back on terra firma.
I want to scent water, fresh this
Time, get these sensations
Like of an earlier time, or maybe
A time to come, when we all will
Have a sense of water, the birds,
They continue to call through air.
from Vincent Katz's new book Broadway for Paul (Knopf, 2020). "A virtuoso collection" — Elaine Equi. Photo credit: Vivien Bittencourt (London; May 27, 2016).