Edna

by Meagan Ruth Honea

waves of petulance
crashing
crashing
crashing
scraping the bottom
pulling up bits and pieces
specimens of shells
atoms of sand
fragments of materialism
splinters and chunks of meat
carnivorous driblets
and shards of glass
toppled among
fingernails
parcels of human fat
and messages in bottles

each wave explodes against the rocks
exposing the sediment of lust
the innate decomposition of existence
and to drown among this vast entity
these looming cliffs
and countless foaming bubbles
unending and constantly redeveloping
is like accepting to never return
but to scavenge along the ocean floor forever
like an eel
becoming one with the underwater world
never again taking a deep breath or
releasing a sigh
but instead
sprouting gills
and developing the lipid membrane
of a salamander, almost
shedding past skins and
sending them leagues above
to crash together and against the rocks
pushed into the crevices and caverns
lost at sea