we always worry
who says "hello"
first

holding our breaths
at our white phones
in front of a tsunami,
ocean waves like
bear claws or
shark teeth, i stand
like a dandelion
and I take a step
forward, toward
everything yet no-
thing, because this
is a fragment of the
atlantic, this is left
over shreds of un-
loved tides, I walk
because if i take a
step and you push
me back, or if i take
a step and you pull
me toward aisles of
blue cigarette ash, I
know more than I
ever did just standing,