The Psalmist on the evening tide

And thou shalt give them drink of thy pleasures, as out of the river.
Psalm 36

The Book of Common Prayer, 1928

Swept up, free, borne up, to ride the wave --
not slammed down into the shingle, not hauled
under, breathless, struck flat face-first
into the gravel, not dragged no breath yet

still scrambling under churned foam frantic

to break water, gristle in one shoulder snapped,
no gasp, no burst of air yet, yet not drowning,
not yet, no -- to ride the wave, as if forever

free, to breathe, to fill with air this rib cage

made to drink of the river of thy pleasures ...

The Hon. John Lewis,

incorrigible bodysurfer,

won re-election yesterday

in the State of Georgia's 

5th Congressional District.

Tell the young, 
drenched in query.

Make sure they understand.

The Freedom of the Bodysurfer

Brooks Haxton

Uproar: Antiphonies to Psalms

Knopf, 2004©