Inside out
       

The roar of white noise
shushing from the nursery is close to real
waves if you unfocus your eyes
conjure the snap of loose canvas
the vinegar trickled to the bottom of a whole cup of fries.

Someday I will buy you fistfuls of taffy
show you how to cup fingers around saltwater, and sand
dripping mer-castles for burrowing crabs.
You are just awakening to the world
and don't know yet what this world is.

I want to give you whole oceans.
Every moon in every galaxy. While everyone sickens,
selfishness is winning. Reality splits like eyes
that won't cross, the world: but now two.
I can bear only one of them for you.

I want to give you whales. Drumbeats, every ballet,
accordion keys, each sparrow. Parades, and playfellows.
Buoyancy. Tenacity. What will be left
in the deconstructions? One day
it will be for you to rebuild. Will you be ferocious, afraid?

You are scared of lawnmowers, the grater, certain bugs.
This bud that you are, is there earth for you? It is for you.
While we hide, while things are pulled down, and tear
you unfurl anyway, just as though the nursery
fan really were salt air.

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Copyright © 2022 Emma Sky Wolf All rights reserved
from Gargoyle
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission