drink stirrer 

i haven't been to the aunts' house 
in years but when it floods, i plan
to go there. i want to see it underwater.
all the rooms like terrariums.
the portrait of my father & his brother
& their cousins drowning in matching clothes.
a dream photo. the bar where we used
to drink as many sprites as we could
while the adults drank amber & fire. i used to put
the little plastic drink stirrers in my mouth.
they always tasted slightly sweet. my teeth
rung like bells from all the sugar. 
i'll use the stirrers as terrible oars. i am not
a survivor child. instead, i am a creature 
of tableaus. give me a good image 
that i can sink with. we'll open the windows
to swim out. everyone has their own
titanics. the places you watched sink. 
my father tells me that the floor 
in the bathroom & the kitchen of the aunts' house
are coming up like reptile skin.
i feel like it's rained every day this year. i imagine it
as the sky searching for rebirth where
there is none. i buy a disposable underwater camera.
snap pictures in the dark. a photo of a wedding photo
on the wall. is the water salt or sugar?
i think this storm is sweet. nectar & blood.
a flood is when the water asks for us back.
remember when it owned all the creatures.
my aunts' lipstick prints on the side of
glasses of manhattans. i row through the night
using nothing but my fingers.