“Dreams from the Deep”

I consider the ocean just shy of the solstice,

dipping under just to scream

drowning in missed calls and stepping on sharp things,

I bow my head to the crab missing a leg

dragging itself back to sea.

Hoping to find softness again and harden again

with plastic in my blood and a shell to my ear

I can hear moans still tangled in my sheets

and nothing can wake me easily anymore.

I don’t need to count my fingers in dreams

I touch myself at night to test if I am still here.