Tidal
I remember the wave
a lime green inner tube.
my lips are salty and i’m in too deep to touch,
above me, blue, below me, blue.
the sea bunches and swells
in anticipation and I clutch the tube,
ready to coast back to shore,
where my parents drown in margaritas
where my sister’s doomed sandcastle
will be besieged by the water that holds me now.
it falls on me like judgment
pulls me down into the ocean’s heart
the tendrils of seaweed monsters wrap around my ankles.
tumble
twist
tussle
until up is down and left is right
everything blue and salty and stinging
there’s no me anymore, only open water.
why be afraid?
it only wants to rock me to sleep.
The ocean whispers Open
and I open.