Switch Stance

by | Jul 23, 2026

A close-up of several cyanotypes of a naked woman turning and ascending stairs, waving her hand, in a study of motion.

“Turning and ascending stairs, waving hand” (1885), Eadweard Muybridge. Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution.

All truths wait in all things
—Walt Whitman

I envy surfers (coteries of loose joints) who design their lives around patterns and leave no trace.
Rising with the sun (an income of energy), rushing to the edge of a flower-studded cliff
where no words are needed. Views tell us what kind of world this is.

They enter the sentient sea with poise, conceding to their diminishment.
I envy sharks (scar-patterned, ancient-seeming), how they swim ponderously
because they belong.

Yet headlines bleed: Fear the Fin, Get to Know This Death Wish Fish
to justify our riot of drum lines and gill nets. I envy How to Stay Safe.
I envy how shark attacks fall into a statistical category.

I envy correlation without causation.

I envy tide pools (mouths to another world) where spike-driven
organisms are fluent in the pressure of thousands of feet.
When I’m on foam-edged sand, I remember what I love.
I love how crabs carry out predatory errands while worms dig emergency exits.
I love how an albatross has the soul of a sailor, pushing from marine to continental.
O to have a wingspan more expansive than Whitman!

I envy the all-embracing, all-breaking.

During my first trip to the West Coast, I stayed in La Jolla Shores.
My suburban mind marveled: What do you do with all these silhouettes?
Let them replace your inner monologue or fade expensively?
The center of my attention: a surfer resting
on a Ron Jon towel (red-rimmed eyes, draining sinuses)
munching on a muffin, using seaweed as a napkin.

He was no more modest than immodest.

I forgot my usual shyness and bought a wetsuit the next day.
What an absolute joy to twist into an unpredictable shape,
to clear a circle in the mirror steam.

Hannah Goff

Hannah Goff

Publab Fellow 2026

Hannah Goff is a poet and pop culture encyclopedia. She holds a BA in English with a creative writing emphasis from Colgate University. Her poems embrace the tension between musicality and meaning while exploring themes of nature, family, food, grief, nostalgia, and travel. She will be attending University College Dublin to pursue an MA in journalism and international affairs. Hannah spends her free time laughing at New Yorker cartoons, studying Saturday Night Live, attempting Martha Stewart recipes, making zines, and dreaming of scarlet macaws.