Alone in the sea, belly flooded by chill.
What if I freeze and can’t move?
Fear swims to the briny curve of always
and all that ever was leaves my toes.
The beach empties, children rub sand
from volleyballs, lovers burrow in the dunes.
The ocean, calmer now that waves give up
the urgency of the day, is mine.
I pillow my head on cool infinity
and witness the ancient mural of clouds.
My hair expands around my skull like kelp
drifting so freely that any impulse checks
in at the root, and a fin-tip of polar ice
flicks along each prehistoric vertebrae.
Earlier version published in Literary Nest