shipwreck

my dreams float
restlessly through our halls
slender female ghosts of desire
while my body lays shipwrecked
heart a sandbagged anchor
hold me deeply, deeply down
where the creatures glow
and the silence is everything.
eyes closed, starfish bloom
where the pupil once dilated.
the world calls to me in the voices
of children. i must answer.
you lie a coral reef, hard and beautiful.
i see the tender strings of electricity
light up the spaces between.
my pinky finger fits just so
in a small place beside your cheek.
i move it until it is bloody
but never feel your skin.
overhead a rainfall. a burst of light.
my mouth fills with salt and sand.
i am awake and you are asleep.


maggie may ethridge
october 3 2012