green

the eye of a humpback whale:
a plum in my hand: rolls down
the hallway: barefoot me: 
following the fruit to the living room
where a whole whale carcass
lays: belly up to the ceiling: 

i read last week: they found
a humpback whale in the depths 
of a mangrove forest: tried
to list the reasons that could:
happen: probably got lost:
in the mouth of the amazon river:
blue artery: did the whale notice:
the color green:

look up from the water: see vine:
leaf: tree: the soil animals:
fearing that this was: finally god:
running from him: because that
is all that can be done: when you 
see massiveness: the spilling
of river onto ground: belly up:
flukes asking to become legs:
what limb will you use: if 
it comes to this: i will use 
my tailbone to grow a tail back:

the whale in my house: like
the one in the forest: has gone:
soft porcelain: days of: our air:
gnawing at skin: i put its: eye 
back into the socket: but its stare:
is long: blank: full of green:
dead: i ask it to be: not dead:
but that never works: i tell whale: 

my bed room in my parent's
house was a mangrove forest:
some nights: i counted green: 
i took out my eyes: held them 
as plums: rolled them up: down
the hall: woke my brother up:
made him look at how big: i was:

the roots jutting out of carpet:
took my body to the floor: belly up:
flukes prone: a wet crucifix:
jesus fish symbols: swimming 
like minnows in the trees: 
pull green blanket: over the whale:
get beneath: