“if the value of a cup is the emptiest space inside of it”

by Jax NTP

please stay — is the definite feeling — but the mouth won’t jut
words swallowed quicker than the way queen conchs scuttle
from their shells at dusk to graze — mate — lotus spine silhouettes

left behind — all i wanted as a child was to write love
letters to maritime carapace but words perched — halfmoon
pucker can’t quite unfurl brain peonies opal plankton opal green

the mind can’t love write when tongue pressed roof
saltwater taffy a thick gossamer spun woven beaten
oral fixations — when the déjà vu won’t stop vu-ing

— go inward and choke — honeycombed chaffed ocean
jasper words layered moss muse: how to bear the weights
of non-events until only the curves of forgotten things

rust louder than sodium orange streetlights adagio there’s only
the loneliness of looking into lit beachfront houses on night
walks if the value of a cup is the emptiest space inside of it

the poet is the person who receives the direct action
of a verb — such tangential velocity: a spider web with no
edges the way phlegm builds up from not speaking

all mondaybluelaced moss agate please stay is the definite feeling
but honeyed and hollowed i am childhood handwritten-nautica
shelled words congealed miasmic throat housing

years of marina-phlegm-trenches yet treacle
treacle inbetween the spaces of saltwater taffy
and oyster spit — unlearn the breasts of ache and brine