Sea-Strangled
I wake up, you’re on top of me and also you’re an octopus
Caressing me with those strange suckers like I’m your
whiteboard
Coral grows down from the ceiling in algorithms
Water leaks in from the floorboards
“Please, why does it smell so salty?”
“You left the seaweed in the pot, boiling.”
Starfish are clinging to the window
I try to call out but my voice sounds like bubbles
Blue fish are flopping inside the pillowcase
Now your tentacles are gripping my ankles
“Just let go for a sec so I can turn off the stove…”
It wouldn’t be so bad, the suckers and the pillow-fish
If it weren’t for the starfish, and the smell of the seaweed…
And the fact that you’re whispering you love someone new…
Desert-Strangled
In this desert of pale green sand
There is nothing more beautiful than you
You are the enormous statue of the Sphinx
You are skyscrapers taller than I am
How can I climb to your broken nose
To kiss your powdery eyes?
Without a ladder, I can only sit and watch the winds erode
you
The dust of you lands on my hair
I will be your open-skinned urn
After all,
I’m the one who packed you into sand.
Blood-Strangled
I didn’t give a coin to the beggar
In fact he didn’t ask me for a coin
He asked if I could lick what was dripping from his bony
wrist
“Okay, sure, but that could be blood or urine.
I’m not sure how sterile you are, Sir.
You smell like one of those striped brown lizards
That’s been dead for weeks or years.”
