lake boy

boy of strangers

he is so young

he makes me feel ancient

but he hunts for mussels

like he will die if he doesn’t

dying men wish not to die

this boy, he wishes for mussels

siren boy

boy of the subterranean

dives to the lake floor

we both imagine the sunken

wilds but I believe in monstrosity

and he knows leviathan possibility

voyager boy

boy of the salts and ships

hands wrap around a mussel

and he beams at me, colossal,

from the very, very bottom

he doesn’t know it but

I love him like he loves

the plastic thud of clams

dropped into his bucket

sacred boy

boy of flooded wisdom

he flutters his fingers at me

and the drowned souls call

to me in his voice

as he slides away into the deep

he makes the water sing