Out to Sea

Ashley Akenson

I want to live wild and salty,
with legs drawn up like pillars of sea salt
pulled from the ocean floor,
blinking up at the sun,
bleaching in the dry heat;
arms of kelp,
slender, soft, bitter,
reaching out to the diamond dapples
in the water-skin above;
a tongue like tidal waves—
foam and noise
speaking tirelessly,
smoothing out the sand;
and lips like coral or thick anemones,
words sliding in and out like clown fish—
bright, quick,
darting though tunnels of throat and mouth,
swayed by currents,
pulled out to sea.