The Virtue Of Self-Reliance.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

i wait for no one
and no one waits for me

copy: i am an island
i touch no one and no one touches me

does this sound like poetry at all?
does this sound like an existential angst of one who wants to hold on the hooks of words
fished out from the confused waters?

for one, i haven't heard the cries for help
there is only the sound of feet and hands flapping like the fins of a fish
as though
someone is short of breath
and about to die

i like this,
this way to the door of the music room
sitting on a bench
facing a piano
as i begin to press and let my fingers travel distances
each note
takes me to nowhere, relying only on the sound of its longing
no destination, no purpose

ah, like a cocoon hanging on a leaf
merely passing the time away

without the dream of a butterfly
inside its darkness

ah, everything blooms,
everything opens

let us see how can this happen to me
watch me as i too watch you

this must be life then, surprises all surprises
how can boredom be so real?

how can jejune be June?
what about the numerical ennui on the month of May?

listen, listen
drink the silence
savor this inner peace