Mary Celeste
Swell below my intestines,
break, regroup, rise again.
gurgling hunger rends the night;
desperate hunger shakes the sky
up, down, tossed this way by
fate, tossed that way by
a misplaced heartbeat, a misjudged
destination. Intestine swell,
stomach turn, belly of the beast:
the temper-tossed waves.
Calm me, tell the sea:
recalculate the stars, recalibrate
the senses. Misjudged, ill-placed
faith, in these treacherous waters
from shore to endless horizon,
falling off the edge of the world
shrinking into the distance,
convulsing, converging. We took
this path in error, we took
an empty ship into
overflowing sensation. Creaking
timber, swelling sails, lifeboat
splashes, plunges us
together into history.
Squeezing hands, thrashing
dreams; bear west
onward to the unknown, swells
stretching and imploding into
water drops on
chapped skin.
Published by Zeniada Magazine, Fall 2018