Perhaps love is like the ocean
just like John Denver said
full of conflict
full of change
he chainsawed his bed in half
after the divorce
so maybe he knew
what he was talking about.
It’s a decent metaphor
we’re all drawn to the sea
despite the tidal waves
and sharks.
The witnesses who saw John Denver’s plane
smash into the sea
said there was a pop
just before the metal splintered
like a china plate
hitting the floor.
I’m sure the investigators wrote notes
about fuel gauges and rudder pedals
but I wonder if the popping was his heart
a single burst of sorrow
for the grandchildren he would never know
for the whole chainsaw business
for any bitter words
he’d never bothered
to erase.
Or perhaps it was an epiphany kind of pop
that love is like the ocean after all
a mystery
a thousand possibilities
at once
perhaps he found
a quiet tunnel
in the roar
and went down
smiling.