29 | "The source is underwater" [pantoum]

We are what seas have made us
longingly immense
if trees may come to shade us
it seems a sweet defense
longingly immense
dimension proves pelagic
it seems a sweet defense
though oceans can be tragic

dimension proves pelagic
existence acts oneiric
though oceans can be tragic
I'm not a fusty cleric
existence acts oneiric
the source is underwater
I'm not a fusty cleric
I'd wed the merman's daughter

the source is underwater
yet on the land we live
I'd wed the merman's daughter
but have no shells to give
yet on the land we live
the roadways now parade us
but have no shells to give
we are what seas have made us



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This poem's first two lines are borrowed from a poem by Lorraine Nedecker (the words appearing as three lines in her short poem). The source poem (as net-published) is evidently drawn from Lorine Niedecker: Collected Works (2002).

This is no. 29 in a sequence, Early Autumn Pantoums