V. H. King's Ink

my eyes don’t fill
with water, my lungs burn
bursting with unshed tears—
and they say to watch
our sodium.

my mind holds no dreams:
only the grey in between
waking and dying
drifting and drowning

reliving everything history
never taught me. my heart
is there, somewhere . . .

dull hope left me digging
irrigating, grafting:
all my friends are drowning
and so
am I, except

I’ve never felt close

to the living.
bodies, bodies, bodies
sleep for me
sing for me
reach for me when I sink

like lost treasure;
remind my spirit to breathe
strength
from the land to the sea.