do you see what I see in the open sea?
touch the pebbles with your toes
breathe the salt in through your nose
close your eyes, relax your face
get lost in the open space
between your eyelids and your mind
explore.
don't be scared of what you find
let the breeze fall down your cheek
imagine life less bleak
open your eyes and you will find
just before this, you were blind
now tell me, do you see what I see in the open sea?

Let me see the coastline
a hazy blue infinite.

I want to stare into nothing, believing
I see the end of the sea.

salty air on the tip
Of my tongue
gulls sing and swoop along

I want to fly too.

Let me sit on the cliff, dangling
my legs off the edge
and hear nothing
but my thoughts.

O, how badly I want to find the way
to your coastline.

Will I see the end?
Does it even exist?

Grandmothers buy flowers while their husbands
lick a cone
chocolate-vanilla swirl.
Homeless rockers keep their front
drinking beers around the statue
when all they really want
is an ice cold
strawberry treat.
Replace cafes with parlors
perfecting soft serve service, pouring
fountains of custard
to children of all ages and size.

I want to write a poem about the calmness of sand
cooling on a coast in early morning's soft light.
Or lapping waves creeping to my toes
on a lazy summer lake with the sun at its peak.

I want to write a song about the freedom of birds
and clicking crickets humming in the rain.
Or cracking sticks buckling beneath armored feet
as the sun sinks down below tall mountain peaks.

But all I can write are poems about sandy toes
dancing in the dawn and dirtying the sheets.

And all I can sing are songs that you hum
in the middle of the night when you're fighting off sleep.

I've watched the world from coast to coast
wake up and fall asleep.
I've touched my toes on paths I know
and those on foreign streets.
I've sat and stared at freckled skies,
heard thunder from the heat.
I've walked the earth and smelled the dirt
of isolation and peace.

I think somehow they don't compare
to your arms around my waist
where I wondered what comes next
and you kissed me on the neck.