I have never been the Beinecke Rare Book Library
Except for the time when I was swallowed by that ugly whale.
Inside her belly I became Jonah suspended in a cavern of light.
Marveled at the glass cube that was her spine.
Swam up bathed in golden light, exploring my new home.
With each breath the beast and I became more unified.
Separate beings no more I would be the storehouse of her treasures.
But then she spewed me out, transformed, onto the blistering pavement.
I was all I had seen.
All I had touched and tasted.
Knowing the light streaming through the belly of the whale was as much a part of me as the lentil soup I’d swallowed at lunch.
