any Greek can get you into a labyrinth But it takes a hero to get out of one

Any fool can get into an ocean 

But it takes a Goddess 

To get out of one. 

What's true of oceans is true, of course, 

Of labyrinths and poems. When you start swimming 

Through riptide of rhythms and the metaphor's seaweed 

You need to be a good swimmer or a born Goddess 

To get back out of them 

Look at the sea otters bobbing wildly 

Out in the middle of the poem 

They look so eager and peaceful playing out there where 

    the water hardly moves 

You might get out through all the waves and rocks 

Into the middle of the poem to touch them 

But when you've tried the blessed water long 

Enough to want to start backward 

That's when the fun starts 

Unless you're a poet or an otter or something supernatural 

You'll drown, dear. You'll drown 

Any Greek can get you into a labyrinth 

But it takes a hero to get out of one 

What's true of labyrinths is true of course 

Of love and memory. When you start remembering. 

 

[Jack Spicer {1925-1965} 'Any fool can get into an ocean', from The open door : one hundred poems, one hundred years of Poetry magazine]