your mouth
sucks oxygen
into layers of my skin
hope for them
to save me
from the thunderous waves
washing and tumbling
and breaking
you and
the weight of the living

feel how I stretch out
burst with a dubious pop
slowly gliding
falling
too
we’re letting me drown

I collide with the ocean floor
send a whirl of slow sandstorms
while I anchor myself
to the ground
shipwrecks call home
sing their melodies
as the cold, bottom currents
slowly snake around
my ankles and wrists
start to pull then to push me
I feel the weight of the whole sea
pressing down on my lungs

so I gasp

but there’s no air left
no more pockets of treasure
along my skin
just a vacuum in my chest
had it all dissolve
instead
in carelessness
for wistful craving

now I drown
feel the world swim away from me
hear the sirene’s
start to compose songs for me
dream of the daylight
yet stay

you followed the air trail
traced me here
steal the hold
heavy water has on me
then
kiss to burn into memory
mindlessly sigh
down my throat
silently fill up
the broken air pockets
but not to keep us afloat

I don’t need anything
when
your essence streams
into my veins
my blood fills up

Oxytocin

set me free
feeling you with me
is all
I need to breathe

KH