I look at the shell, and let my preconceptions
replace themselves with others. There’s no way
I can see the shell for simply what it is.

I regard the shell and try to squelch my thinking.
As far as I succeed, it disappears.
I cannot find it. I stay unaware

of what I think I’m seeing when I see.
What does the shelled ghost of the fighting conch
think of when it tries also to see me?