Your sea is red
Like the Red Sea.
On the shores of Asia Minor, blue Mediterranean waves
Once giggled, scattering foam in the sun.
Floating like a cloud as a blue-backed sardine
In warm, salty waters, seasoned just right.
But the sea is no easy place.
At times, swells as tall as houses burst against the body,
The sighs of a harbor, heaving and restless,
And the reefs that trap the impatient.
As you drift from the Mediterranean into the Red Sea,
Coarse scales fall away, one by one.
Slapped by waves heavy with salt,
Upon the mangled flesh,
Wounds and scars bleed into one.
For the red sea and its fish,
We hung curtains of snowy white lace.
That is all the comfort we can offer.
Steroids no longer hold their power.
Like a wolf devouring its own tongue,
You bite your own flesh to fill the hunger.
Like the last fisherman, we sink together.
* Lichen Planus: A chronic inflammatory condition affecting the mucous membranes inside the mouth. It is characterized by reddish patches, painful ulcers, and white, lace-like patterns known as Wickham striae.
Feb 5
Feb 5, 2026 at 10:12 PM UTC