@@@@@but I would have to be "Show me your
@@@@@but I would have to be
"Show me your pictures," I whispered, and that red
mouth swallowed me whole
How to Draw a Picture (X)
Be prepared to see it allIf you want to create -
God help you if you do, God help you if you can -
don't you dare commit the immorality of stopping
on the surfaceGo deep and take your fair salvage
Do it no matter how much it hurts
You can draw two little girls - twins - but anyone
can do thatDon't stop there just because the
rest is a nightmareDo not neglect to add the
fact that they are standing thigh-deep in water
that should be over their headsA witness - Emery
Paulson, for instance - could see this if he
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looked, but so many people aren't prepared to see
what is right in front of their eyes
Until, of course, it's too late
He's come down to the beach to smoke a cigarHe
can do this on the back porch or on the veranda,
but some strong compulsion has urged him down the
rutted road Adie calls Drunkard's Boulevard and
then down the steeper, sandy path to the beach
This voice has suggested his cigar will taste
better hereHe can sit on a fallen log the waves
have cast up and watch the after-ashes of the
sunset, as orange fades to tangerine and the stars
go blueThe Gulf will look pleasant in such light,
the voice suggests, even if the Gulf has had the
bad taste to mark the beginning of his marriage by
swallowing two of his beloved's little sisters
But there's more to watch than just a sunset, it
seemsThere's a ship out thereIt's an oldfashioned
one, a pretty, slim-hulled thing with
three masts and furled sailsInstead of sitting
on the log, he walks down the beach to where the
dry sand becomes wet and firm and packed,
marveling at that swallow-shape against the fading
sunsetSome trick of the air makes it seem as if
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the day's last red is shining right through the
hull
He is thinking this when the first cry comes,
chiming in his head like a silver bell: Emery!
And then comes another: Emery, help! The undertow!
The rip!
That is when he sees the girls, and his heart
gives a springing leapIt seems to rise all the
way to his throat before falling back into place,
where it dashes double-timeThe unlit cigar
tumbles from his fingers
Two little girls, and they look just the same