Something Like A Manta Ray

U Roy: Natty Rebel

HORN CREEK RAPID
TOWER OF SET
MENCIUS AND CONFUCIUS TEMPLE
ELVES CHASM
OUTSIDE CLEAR CREEK CANYON

When I went
to sleep each night,
I imagined myself
at the bottom,
thousands of feet down,
the weight of
all that water
but I was gliding
just above ground,
something like a manta ray,
flying soundless
and weightless
over endless plains
that fell away
into deep canyons
of darker black
and then rose up
in spires and new plateaus,
and I could be
anywhere in this world,
off Mexico or Guam or under the Arctic or all the way to Africa,
all in the one element, all home, shadows on all sides of me gliding also,
great wings without sound or sight but felt and known.
--David Vann
Aquarium