SEA-WITCH 6

 

 

In Sea-Witch I never knew when I was having sex. Some bodies don’t lend themselves to a clear

separation of beginning or end & in some bodies that separation is too great. Exhausting, even. Mine has

always been some combination of both. Sex happens in Sea-Witch by taking “turns”. Each participant gets

a turn, followed by the other participant’s turn. Turns can look like anything & can take any amount of

time. Whole months have been spent on a single turn. A turn can be a pause, the drawing of certain

symbols in mud, or nearly endless tears. Most of my turns in Sea-Witch looked the same: creating sound

as quietly as possible near my lover’s hair or skin. If there is no sound to be made or hair or skin to be

found in the particular bodies we are inhabiting I am usually satisfied with anything I can connect to the

concept of “closest”. This is why my thoughts are shaped in the way they are now. Why draw symbols

when you can use all of who you are. When you can act as one yourself.

 

The following is a list of facts about my time in Sea-Witch:

 

1. When I was living in Sea-Witch I organized my life around the same principles many people living in

Sea-Witch did. The most important of those was When they come for us, we will climb the trees. This one

is very old & the origin is unknown. I don’t think anyone ever told me about it. When you get to Sea-Witch

there are certain things you just know.

 

2. Every night in Sea-Witch I slept deeply until I couldn’t sleep anymore. I had a feeling that things

happened while I was asleep in Sea-Witch, that my living space, my bed, my lover all changed in small

degrees, an entire revolution until they arrived back where they were before I fell asleep. I also felt as if

some didn’t make it the full way around. They felt too almost.

 

3. Everyone in Sea-Witch used to drown themselves in waves a lot. It was something to do to pass the

time, which is a really difficult thing to measure in Sea-Witch. We found the ocean for this under our beds.

The ocean in Sea-Witch is still there, under all the beds & all of Sea-Witch knows they can drown

themselves in it at any time, but they don’t. They just think about it.

 

4. At one point while I was living in Sea-Witch we all sat down for a very long time & looked at grass. All of

my best memories of Sea-Witch are from this time, but it had to end eventually.

 

5. The whole time I was living Sea-Witch I kept a stone in my pocket wrapped in old paper I tore from a

book & held together with hair ties. Every night I would wash it in Sea-Witch’s hair & feed it bits of

mushroom & herbs, whatever I had around. When I spoke to it I felt listened to. Before I left Sea-Witch I

gave this rock to Sea-Witch as a present, & she ate it, saying I will keep it safe here. I wrote her a thank

you note & signed it with all my names. I kissed Sea-Witch & felt the rock moving inside. When they come

for us, we will climb the trees.