7/11/2015

my heart breaks every time I touch the sea.

all these comings and goings, the tides

with their silver breath, the many-doored

fog in which all directions are one

the long sunrises that evaporate night.

the sound of gulls penduluming the air

chip all my memories into little pieces.

I will throw that glass into the waves.

the brine of saltmarsh leans inland

to touch my nose with the tip of its

dense tongue. it tastes like the sex

of primitive gods. the tidepool is

full of secrets. starfish are

stitching this fragile earth together.

if you meet me here, anything could

happen. we could get lost in it.

a hundred thousand years ago

the ancestors of whales returned

to the sea. they never came back.

their voices lengthened, their word

for yes stretched into hours, so long

so quiet you could lie down on it.