Photo: Barcelona, Spain | 120 film
every corner is a mirror of checkered floors
eyes misguided
skin, searching
for a flat drink to soak up.
spit out.
start over.
and suddenly in a sea of unfamiliar flesh
appears someone wearing the sun
so you strip
shed muscle
bare bone.
stand still.
Photo: Port Angeles, WA | 120 film
to bathe in your own sun
enshrined
shift weight
to the heels
of the sea
Photo: Seattle, WA | 120 film
undone [in III acts]
this is not a tragedy
your side of the bed is busy
tying knots. the rope, cotton. the kind
of knots that harbor strung out hearts.
the kind of hearts you eat to survive.
there’s room enough in this bed
to wrestle a lioness
between the brass hoops and Sunday’s socks
i swoon
we are not conventional
i. tender
i. ringmaster
you. unknown matter
grasshopper.
so i sing louder.
do not use this rope where life, limb, or
personal safety are involved.
do not use this rope to weave dreams.
try instead a synthetic variety.
one that holds up to the weather.
no changes in weight despite the load
bearing in mind that a single thread
left to its own devices
would have sufficed. if only life, limb, and
personal safety were not involved.
you’re frayed
i’m knot.
Photo: Datça, Türkiye | LomoChrome Purple 120 film
yüz yıl içinde
yüz yüze geldiğimizde
yüzeyden dibe
tekrar yüzelim mi?
Photo: PNW Coast | 35mm film
you be the girl with ginger lemon tea and i’ll be the boy with a poem in his back pocket
jean-stained, though i wear none.
we’ll hug like childhood friends, like discarded copies of ourselves
playing pretend
stop. ocean foam is sputtering the moon’s secrets.
are you listening? shit. my mouth was uncorked when the wind blew,
now your name will crackle with each bite. rose.
rose.