I remember, back before puberty,

and all concomitant complexities,

visiting the pond behind our barn,

to watch the water spiders.

 

I wondered what it would be like to live on thin transparent skin

between two equally visible universes,

one below, and one above.

Below,

life would be somewhat darker

but unlike soil.

I would look down into a flowing water space,

watching other little pond insects and amoebas, and lichen,

and occasional predator fish or water snake,

or frog.

Above,

I could look up to see flying insects,

and grass forests,

rocks above, as below,

but dry, lighter, easier to maneuver,

to stick to,

to remember.

Again, the occasional predator,

like birds and again those pesky frogs

who also tend to live near life’s bicameral surface.

 

Yet, in a way, this surface,

Boundary Universe skin between two universes,

Prime Relationship limned barrier between air and water universes

has its own specific universal traits,

responding to both air and water flow,

sometimes confluently,

sometimes dissonantly.

My own spidery journey along that surface,

looking in and looking up,

is quite different than looking out,

forward,

with confusion as I lose capacity to see down and up

while looking toward my future.

 

So, my water spider grows three eyes.

Only eco-centric eye looks directly toward my future,

interpreting Prime Relationship between my right eye,

looking within the water below,

and inside,

while my left eye,

looking up and out,

seeks to understand

what this huge mammal,

a red headed kid,

is doing with our day.