i tilt

i unscrewed the
lid of my water bottle
& found inside  
the Pacific ocean--
clear blue as it is
in pictures & on google
maps-- there down
there-- all those sting rays
& branches of coral--
thrashing kelp forests--
i know nothing
of the pacific ocean 
& she knows nothing of
me-- i twist
the lid back on 
& tilt-- there all
the schools of fish flourishing
apart-- stones shift--
there goes the tide--
snapping like coffee
stirrers-- the ocean 
water brown like stream
water after a violent 
august rain-- all
in my water bottle--
i try to fit inside but
it's all too big--
too far to fall--
there i perch on
the lip-- the whole
pacific ocean a step
or a slip away-- isn't
that so much like falling
asleep-- like leaning
on a pane of glass
waiting for it to  become
water--i tilt
the ocean in the hopes
of not falling asleep
so soon-- i want
to stay up & float
on a thought of you &
the almost ocean tilting
& tilting like an hour glass--
we're running out of
time-- stop the hour glass--
tilt it sideways &
drop it on the sidewalk--
we'll desert walk--
arid & sandstorm in our eyes--
we broke the hour glass for
this-- the only
water left is the pacific 
ocean i brought in my
water bottle &
you'll say no-- no
we can't drink the pacific 
ocean-- not with all the 
pre-existing biodiversity issues--
the dying reefs--
their ghost-white
branches like elk horns
jutting from stone--
there there is mounted
the deer head-- the walrus
tusks-- oh what about
humans love for trophies?
if so than why not mount
dead coral on the rec room
walls-- 
if we drink we'd have
to swallow 
all those blooms of jelly fish--
stingers on our throats--
their undulating bodies
becoming the water-- how
bold are your to take back your
water? how can your blame them
& their florescent limbs-- 
but we must drink-- the impulse
to swallow oceans is one
humanity was born with-- don't
drink the sea water
don't drink the sea water--
so, then, what will become of
all that land emptied
of sea? we can't drink
the pacific ocean--no
it would be better 
to dry up in the desert
of this hourglass--
take one sip-- just one
sip with me--
i won't tell anyone-- 
we can just lay here-- up
against my window pane--
praying the glass intends to
hold us--
i'm sorry i broke the hourglass
i hold the water bottle
to your lips 
you take the first
drink-- the 
sand is sugar-- 
the water sweet-- 
we tilt & turn-- start
over the hour glass--
this is how long
you have left to love him--
before the sand turns
back into salt water--
before the window pane
gives in &
there are no oceans
left to drink--
i grow elk horns made of coral--
remember me--
mount them on the rec room
wall-- bleached & 
blossoming with rock 
candy-- screw the cap
on the pacific ocean--
tilt it sideways &
water me swim--