play possum

i’m fine

no, nothing’s wrong

i just really love this song,
gives me the blues sometimes, is all.

a snake, a possum, a doe and fawn
on the roadside killed, again, i saw.

i heard the breaking news story
and, i’m awfully raw, so please ignore me.

this world can be so cruel and wicked
so, of course, my tender heart’s afflicted.

you see my glistened eyes, my lump throat, and my quiver lip

and, you think they’re for you??

well, sir, or ma’am: that’s rich.

all lies,

but also,

all true.

the sea of inez

i feel the gravity
the love
the loss
so close || this close
almost, almost, almost

buoyed then anchored

an internal saltwater aquifer suffusing me

with congestive heartbreak

swelling and stiffening my limbs
i cant walk to you or anyone
beached in my own body

my eyes filling my mouth, my throat
i can’t talk to you or anyone
muted by our illicit drug

swallow,
swallow,
swallow

that sea inside you

or else,

drown, drown, drown

in it,

i am not a mermaid
i am a human woman

yet my belly’s pregnant
with an ocean

and,

she’s y/ours