I’ve been this

struggling sapling

worming and 

wriggling 

to breach the surface 

to breathe the air 

I’ve always longed for,

but up 

isn’t always up

and down

isn’t always down

and sometimes

east and west 

are conjoined twins

and I’m racking my brain

to figure out why we should 

Never Eat Shredded Wheat

because it seems like 

a perfectly normal cereal

(aside from Kellogg’s cereal empire)

so instead of 

plowing onward 

in the direction of 

possible oblivion,

I am going to sit

and study this map.