Bottom Feeder - Dustin Vado

Last year,
I was a bottom feeder
Burying myself under forgotten sands
And grazing on excrement.

I liked it down there,
Scraping the ocean floor
With my head down trying to eat
Unnoticed among the hunger of spirits.

If I buried myself too deep,
I would be hungry but safe
While the pressure of fathoms
Pressed my back stiffly

Into the floor of the house
That keeps kelp safely swaying
With a heartbeat thumping
Remorse of whiskey.

One day, as I dreamed of what
The sun would look like refracting
Through green waters exciting
Those without chlorophyll,

I recalled the meaning of depth
Of which, I had only experienced six inches,
And decided to climb in search of feet
And fathom and light and air.

Rising,
I detoured in old love
Of childish sunshine that looked like rain
When she got lost in drop of truth

Or hope of lies.  We mounted different currents
And parted ways to new machs,
The speed of sounds underwater, crushed,
And clapping with the thunder of honesty.

I latched onto a passing tiger shark
To endure the remainder of the journey
And gasped as my head broke the air
For the first time.

First moments above water
Were also the last.
Jaw dropped and eyes open at the sun
I had only dreamed of
During my days as a bottom feeder,
And I am no more.

After flopping in the mist and foam
Of crests riding on solid pressure,
I feel like I just got back from somewhere.

Fresh out of whiskey's remorse
And fatigued by the turbulence of the journey
That brought me to sunshine
And asphyxiation,
I will never return
To my home in the deep.