shark love poem

to test your love i turn into
a bathtub shark. i let my fin 
peak through the surf & i trace
circles in the water. you bring me
video games & cubed steak. 
i tell you i am lonely in new ways.
that i am afraid i will remain 
cartilaginous the rest of my life. in the end
it is still easier than what i was before
which was a little human in the mouth
a big machine. i prefer to be more
& more animal. sometimes you will
sit on the side of the tub &
beg me to tell you something about
myself. i feel like i am a draining species.
soon to be a pale creature of the dark
sucking the language from the footprints
of the world. i have become less & less
able to name my sadness. instead,
it has arrived as an organ. there is
my grief. it moves involuntary. lungs. 
you tell me you still love me 
even though i am a shark. even though
my blood is like a puzzle box. you kiss me
on the forehead. compliment my smoothness.
i peer out of the water. i ask,
"could you be a shark too?" mostly, you tell me
i am morbid to even request this. let us
evade our genders together though. 
there is enough room for me to chase your fin
in circles. maybe we could swim enough
to make an ocean of the house. our gills
like pleated skirts. eyes, doorknob holes.