how to be both

a poem.

I do not know how to be both - 
how to live in the median - 
I tilt a little toward Orion 
where the air is thin - 
where the earth won’t drown me
in all of its thick - 
(too light, no oxygen, one kind of negative space.)

my body made of water 
wanted nothing but skin - 
it was laced and laced 
into a fire-threaded dress -
soul had to shrink between the two - 
(between fire and water - another negative space.)

stars and dust - 
ocean and lightning - 
you cannot belong to one 
but must drift in the tension 
between - 

or, better yet, develop double-vision
half opaque, half transparent - 
learn not to see it all as it is- 
translucence - 
(between chasm and cure, another —)