We Must Talk
We must talk & do so on this soil that turns
swamp turns shivering sea: turn it into neutral
waste (o limned in clemency!) that buoys us
both on seaweeds bereft of weight, of wakes.
We must talk … remembering love, summoning its
hands on us as we sing from siren perches come die
against me please or break off, each a wailing wall
in murk submerging while pores pour incense spores.
We must talk over my swell of fear and your tide
of neglect, casual in its sweep. But do you want
to swim past its rich rewards to see me reappear? Alarm
whimpers in me saying darken, dive, disappear.
We must talk -- beyond hope to look at what may
be. Around us glitter gifts – our life of years together --
as litter. Sparse grace. Could we build on flotsam yet?
Can we net phosphorescence? What’s your take?
We must talk; talk of anguish caused that so weeps to hide
its face while shame seeps from entrails to lustrate me in
inkiness; a black beacon to which your regret is a lifejacket
hurriedly hurled just out of reach. Is it deliberate, my sweet?
We must talk: am I imagining you shipwrecked while
you are safe elsewhere, your shadow too? My tongue,
marooned, still stutters blessings after you. Tell me at our
accident site over the sirens’ blare there’s nothing to rescue.
We must talk. As I drown a slip of moonshine intones
your words familiar, bewildering, as your reflection
melts into me as craved chyme, as the horizon
unrelenting lobs stars overhead beyond time.
We must talk, must answer prayers part
the waves herald vision but my dissolved
retinas can’t see you anymore my love my love
my love destroyed
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