this is the best i have and it could be better

first time

holding a baby

it cries

and

i feel like

crying too

but i do not

for i am no baby

and

soon

it stops

and grows out

of the habit

like i did

*

they say there’s

star dust in us

spread from an explosion

over time and space

which makes sense

for there is a shiver

down my back

perhaps because i lost

all my heat long ago

*

we are melting popsicles

that must bare all

to avoid becoming bare

by requiring another mouth

to taste

to decide

and to save us from a puddle

at a sacrifice of a splinter

*

hills like metastatic lumps

after a slippery mastectomy

hold the occasional wind ripple

carried by an ocean’s wave

that says

hello

you are here to hear

and to come back again

after listening to all

to say the first genuine statement

in this world

which may have to do with cancer

but may also just do with crabs

and how they often leave their shells

that are later collected by others

who look inside and say

it is empty

i was hoping for life

and they change clothes

and find more shells

while the ocean

still swims