Does he wish he married a woman

who didn’t want this?

Does he wish for mornings pressed against her body,

light filtered through lace curtains

flickering upon bare breasts and the hills of tended thighs

and know that they are his alone?

Or would he regret not having these children,

this family, our cacophony dissolving into laughter?

And me?

But could he miss something that never existed?

Or...

He pulled out a bracelet made of twine and beads that our children had crafted at a kid’s museum. It said “Marcus” on it in pink and purple letters. I remember Emmie giving it to him, a shy smile on her face as her little lashes flickered up at him. Seven years old. She had said something about having a crush. Cute little girl thing to say when they don’t really know what crushes are. I wouldn’t t...

Doldrum chest

In windy zest

Waves hit door

Wreckage shore

Cold night’s air

Flecks of glare

As light in years

Has no fears

Ribs not hearts

Have stops and starts

Full of sand

Capsized man

Beat beat beating

Time is fleeting

Birds have flown

Cyclones moan

Then holes devour

Unfathomable hour

Whose banal power

Stars can shower

Pain of gnash

Unpredictable flash

Before the ending—

_Crash, crash, crash...

have you heard the sound of a pulse star—

between beat and rip

electrical zip

flash and dip

thrum and flip?

Don’t you feel that sound?

The pound

the pull—

so full, full, full

and deep in the void

no knows when it’s destroyed....