Rising and Falling
A Poem by Matt Gillam
and so I knelt on sand
and let fall upon my skin
the sea
in waves and sheets
of salty silk
it rained from the hooves
of the black bison
migrating mindless
over
the beach
and so
I knelt in the face
of the western storm
and let beat the heat
from my cheeks,
the rain
and yet I settled still,
I knelt on sand
with no words to say
I made still my skull
so that I could see out
to the edge
of the earth where
the winds kicked up the ocean
–the winds like raging sirens
cast their spells
to summon the salt
to rise the sea into the sky
and so I
knelt in silence
in stillness
in
the sphere
I knelt
I let the water roll
down from me
I let the sea return
to the sea
and I saw
in the stillness
of the skull
I saw the sea fall
back
to the sea
Matt Gillam, 20, is finishing his second year at Santa Monica College. Accepted at UC Berkeley for fall admission, he intends to major in philosophy.
