Diving into the Dead Sea

Diving into the Dead Sea

There are places
you can do it-
far from the eyes
of muslims, jews
or christian tourists.

Places where a 
smooth abutment 
of holyland
juts out into
grey-green water

threaded like a
marble slab-
offering no reflection
of earth, sky,
even yourself.

So take a last 
deep breath,
& dive in unbelief,
your hands flat
to guard your face . . .

There's no splash
just a viscous suck
as you sink weightless
like a pearl of goo
in a lava lamp.

For a few seconds,
the complete inertia 
of immortality-
the blind womb,
the I not I.

Then the salt stings-
your instinct fights
the countersurge,
but all the same
it's rejecting you

forcing you back
into the catastrophe
of creation-
wretching for breath,
sticky as a newborn.