instructions to a lost soul
mayumi olivar

travel further
into the dark
insist on serenity
insist on courage
they require each other

here are the things you have made
they glitter like the surface of the sea
though it rains, the waves swallow it down
relentlessly returns it to your feet

step on the sand
it gives under your weight

each poem you write changes the air
each breath you take leaves an imprint
your every action is situated
in a tangle that binds you
can you feel the strings wrapped around your arms and legs?
can you feel the song they make whenever you move?
the tangle counts you, requires you

you may not know it
but the world is at the end of those strings
and we are all spiders
waiting and weaving
trying and failing and trying

remain lost; the way is a groove in the minds
of those who have come before you.
think for the nameless ones who will follow your tracks.

travel further on and the tale will tell itself.