curious

i have to wonder
when Big Lake was named
who wandered lake's edge
long enough
to say
it was big?

i think of that same person
encountering lake superior
or the gray atlantic

who decides to take a boat
across space uncharted?
how else could this planet be
mapped
down to each peak and valley?
is there a spot
yet
among towering trees
and squat buildings
that has not met
humanity?

i think about the land
before me
the map of my life
as yet,
mostly blank.

little squiggly lines,
drawn by a five year old
with a red crayon--
that is as shaped as i have grown.

am i afraid to find that my life is a lake,
bordered round
rimmed with green banks?

or is it scarier to think of self
as wide as
ocean?