sail boat

in the morning i untether 
the sail boat from the crooked tree. 
i have been blocking out the negativity 
from my life which is to say
i have been floating in the ocean
while the sharks beg me to come
to a little fiesta they're having. i explain
that i don't go places anymore,
that these days all i want to do is to 
get in the boat & see where
we end up. i did not buy
the sail boat but i lie to everyone that
i got it online in my sleep. i have
sleep-bought before. no the sail boat
came to me in a dream. my partner
is always dreaming about meaningful things
like ancestors. instead, my dreams are 
county fair rides. rusty & uncertain.
the sail boat made its way through though.
it is good to have as the sea levels rise
& sun forgets to call home. i think all 
the planets are hoping for a break.
for gravity to exhale & all of us go like
pinballs. i want a really big cow that i can 
show off. i want to take her on the boat
with me & tell her secrets. instead,
i am stuck with a sail & the wind which
i have never learned to harness. 
still, i do my best to care for it. 
sometimes i think of sewing together
maps of all the neighborhoods where
i've lived. the ocean, here. the city just
a broken hip away. the x-ray shows
a sail boat in my femur. the wind
pulling me, mother-like, towards 
a really nice ice cream shop with 
fancy people flavors. i ask my partner
once every few months, "you like
pistachio right?" i am always wrong.
i tether the boat wherever i can. once
when we were on a honeymoon 
i had to keep the boat a secret. i tied it
up the street to a mail box. the boat wept.
i said, "do not worry, i will be inside you soon."
i woke up with my lover in the boat.
for a few minutes when he was still asleep
i swayed & all the stars were like
a strawberry patch. we rocked & swayed.