4 October 2026

By Philip Kuepper

Pale azure isles flow past me.
On second thought,
I flow past pale azure isles.
No, wait. I must rethink this.
It is I who am the observer,
I, in the passive.
It is the isles that dominate
the seascape I am passing
through. Truth.
I am trying to get at
the truth of the situation,
and lay it, here, on the page.
Why pale azure?
Passage is at dusk.
Evening is veiling the isles.
And, at one isle, I note
an egret is landing,
like a large, lone snowflake,
at the edge, where the shallows
lay abundant with minute
sea life. Why am I out
in a boat at this hour?
Because I am.
I like the quiet at the point
day transitions to night.
I sense transcendence,
when all the material
world is being slowly erased
before my eyes, the pale isles
slowly fading, then disappearing,
altogether, and the melting
snowflake of an egret as it lands,
disappearing into the darkness:
isles, egret, evening, then night
swallowing whole the scene
So absorbed by observing this,
I realize, too late,
night is also just now erasing me.

(19-20 September 2026)