(2024)

In the dream,  

         I am by the sea. 

The water throws itself before me in waves;

      its sound, the slow drag of loss. 

    I stare at my reflection & wonder how I became 

            the boy with abandoned bird nests for eyes.

         There’s nothing to do but toss pebbles

                                     across the water—

      say I am the pebble being bounced yards away:

I am afraid of sinking—

I cannot lose myself

to the saltwater.

The sun is lost and lonely, too, in the sky.

I scream & the earth absorbs the echo.

By the sea,

I’m in a dream.