Maxell GX-Silver

The sea is selfish

You know?

Reclaiming some same

Sand after sand

Pulling back shells

And bits of glass and

Bone to the same place

They were pushed from.

And expulsion and a reclamation.

The exhale and the inhale.

Mothers have the same

Clawing selfishness.

Always by my side, little bird

Borders of a nest in expectations

Borders of a nest in city limits

Borders of a life seen through another’s

green eyes.

Always by my side, now flightless thing

Until the air thins

And the breathing slows

Until your eyes gloss over with snow and sand

And the milk spit of dead dreams

Until your memory stops playing on its cassette

The sputter of the film reel.

The last smother of family.

Each wave upon wave

Pulling procreation back

Back to the nest

Back to the sea

That is the starting womb.

Family, pronounced with

the tactile click of the

Rewind button.