A heaving death slab of water with a door in it
like something cut away from your heart
& broken wristwatches & gulls
running across the cement
at the mercy of spider webs spun with silver thread
or gold thread carved from Mexican teeth
with dreams of Tahiti in the rain strung across guitars
numb with the relentless details,
the bloodred pink flamingos, the crosses for sale,
the coast highway bending like smoke
beneath bikinis & mudslides
& we’re hollow-eyed lifers wrecked on the steps of
an acetylene sunset burning itself out now
above a spoonful of wet sand