You, There! Poem by Evangeline Ingram

Without dragging its name
in off of the street, where it was
enjoying a brief respite
from too-careless mouths,
may I speak to you a moment
about what's happened to me?

My world's gone upended,
and a great roaring wind
has scattered my pages
like the deepest note
of some great, earth-bound organ.

Drowning, I have found
that I could breathe water all along,
and everyone always knew
and warned me against it anyway.

A bird alighted on me,
and sang of Eurydice,
and I knew Odysseus.

The tongue tangles, words fail,
and I breathe stream-of-consciousness.

How odd it is to contemplate
another knowing this.