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