Finding Places

First published in Westerly, Vol 66 Number 1, Jun 2021

I let him pinch   my pinky finger,        pull

him out into  first light.   He keels     over

from the weight of a           stolen        life

He’s spent               decades         double

-helixed inside his shell,           spineless

on my palm       like a jelly       at low tide                                      

Two black          eyes blink          up at me

—only I can         crack           their morse

code. I’ve dived for answers  in places

where nobody dared     look,      spaces

where men cannot slip    inside or hide

behind. They leave       slight        traces

like pin bones     missed    in deboning

fish. Hiding   nowhere and everywhere

in plain sight           —I see          them all.