i grieve in waves

i grieve in waves at

i grieve in waves at the

i grieve in waves at the foot

i grieve in waves at the foot of

 

a white dog,

sleeping hard inside itself

in the name of saltwater, in spite of the toothless

man, here, like a christmas vessel, for the ritual

                                      look, it’s the standing girls
whose mothers crawl the woods looking

for birds like an answer,

like an ugly, wordless angel

 

we’re so big we never make eye contact she whines at the boy, the bowl is blue they bring water to the dog when the stranger asks what we call our home no, i wouldn’t be a green tree

two rooms, hot vessel pretend to see other-other draw lines between the spaces to remember nothing