Hold The River Banks Up

E V E R Y B E A C H
s o l e i l g a r n e a u
i’m in the tropics here where it’s sticky and hot
it’s in my blood
to want
to take
the heat
i’m in the tropics here and i’m thinking
that
to inhabit a space is an intimate act and
i hope i’m treating her well
i think
of the coast
i think of this coast
of drinking whiskey straight
i think of sleeping in a tent
in the back of a car wherever
waking up wherever
i think of this coast
i think of people lost in the dunes
i think of kids breaking bottles
i think i am lost in the dunes
somewhere
in the tropics
where
we all want something
and
most of us end up with
somethin
else
i’m in the tropics thinking
of my mother’s tropics
thinking
about
how people move around
how we migrate
we escape
i think of my mother’s wrinkled hand
like my wrinkled hand
lines
like a map
of
how people traverse the world
like the cracks that tell us how long we’ll live
and
how
time is an open sea
a horizon line that’s flat
when the water is calm
when you’re far away
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