Sometimes it takes a beach to remind me
Of how the world repeats itself:
On warm sand walking from sun to moon,
Scenery repeating like a cheap cartoon.
But the overwhelming ocean reminds me 
Of the cinderblock pool, burning with chlorine,
Where I learned to be afraid of swimming,
The kind of fear that swirls in your soul for life,
So much water to be afraid of, so many years.
I look out across dark churn to earth’s edge,
Thinking, I do not belong here, no one belongs here,
This is not our place, this endless watery place,
The beach a sort of uneasy armistice 
I am signing in the sand with my toes as I walk,
The waves creeping closer,
Warning me to hush, hush, hush.