Two Poems

First published in Glass Magazine, Issue Eight, ‘Uncharted Waters,’ 2020

Bark Twice for Help

I wonder if you remember how close

we came to becoming a six o’clock news

story that time during flooding season

when we nicked your brother’s boogie

boards and let the creek tug our milky

bodies harder than any girlfriend could

I wonder if you remember when brown

foam snatched our boards from under

us then upper-cutted them at our chins

You were pulled down way faster

than me. I saw your eyes turn at the thought

you might not make it home

to your dog who watched the weather

channel when home alone, whose sister

died of cancer. She would have seen

you as a passing headline and barked

until your mum walked over to switch

the television off. I wonder

if you remember how I saved

us from that.

Or High Water

Copacabana

Do not lick and lap closer

to my swinging feet. I do not

see him or myself in your trillion

thrashing throats as I sit over

-looking your river Styx, watch

yachts brush down your spine

I don’t recognise their calligraphy

Can’t see our faces summoned

back over your swell: a ridicule

of truth. This story does not hold

water anymore. There are too many

holes in its hull; I’ll go down with

the ship. But when I press your shell

to my ear, I can make out his voice

burring through the imperfect pink

curl of it:          Do not wait for the king tide

to claim you. Call our name

and tame it with your lungs.