strong sun

The sky was heavy the day
I decided I liked orange
and pink together, torn

down the gray, octopus curtain
and placed a flower-bombed
flag in its place

sprinkled bits of periwinkle
to calm the delight,

a shocked, blank edge
calling where the cacophony
of color concluded

and I would sink into the heat
of a long bath, another too
cold day - the sun has slept

for weeks in Seattle,

to float between the shattering
like when I was very small
like a torn hibiscus bleeds –

laying face-up in a kiddie pool
legs a tad too long and splayed
in the time-eating heat

I tried to rub the sun from my eyes

but it just sunk in more
until I could see it behind
closed lids

like a dream in focus:
my body a boat gone
adrift

and sought this halting heat
that pauses every thing,

this version of me –
just a little more time.

endurance

The tide will come in

but I - always - outrun
upon - jutting rocks

once - being a starfish
have held - air, face-down

procrastinated - tongue
folded - words and

right to live – tendered
to – the past

like a sunflower diverted
by the sun – so will I

inevitably - halting syllables
having no root – only

sound of a creature once caught

this hobbled back - sand
between teeth

now face up - the air full
lungs stretched - elastic

as the tide - could sing now
running mid the waves.