Angle of Repose

I love the way you bend in the rain
              like a double-jointed palm tree
as the flashlight batteries give out
                              & you blink like a shadow in a
swimming pool

              Arcades of black eternity in blue mascara
                              out there in the rippling seaweed
the meaning of time like a stolen wristwatch
                              described as silver
                                                                & lonely

& everything else the fortune teller
              forgot to say
                                                as gulls carve your name
into the clouds
              leaving no doubt as to the intent
                              painted green
                                                & handcuffed to a tidepool

I guess it’s just another way of not being seen
              although from here it’s all beach pavement
& gasoline

                              & you can sing along if you want to
following these damp footprints back to when you
never knew the difference

                                                rattling in the
tabernacle of silence like a whispered vow or
covenant
                              as though that which is non negotiable might
consecrate the distance between your monsoon balcony
& the long way back across the sand