I was getting you flowers
And then there you were
Huge and naked, too dry and too hot
Trying hard to remain calm but it’s
hard not to think about how
Your body is not made for air
Too much time out the water
And you crush under your own weight
Or the low tide
comes in to
Drown you
Or the sun cooks
You from inside out
The first step is to keep you
Cool and wet
I went out there with the buckets
To pour and pour the seawater
Making sure to avoid the blowhole
I call the doctor
and as always
her advice is to kill you now
Now, before you
drown or cook or Crush
I steel my nerves
and aim the grenade harpoon
but to look into your big wet grapefruit of an eye
the only one I’ve ever loved
is to kill myself over and over
So I roll Your body
scarred skin and mud and all
back into the ocean
Slowly
with all of my strength
the next day
you beach
again
Not one but
A thousand
A thousand of you
Spread out
across the shore,
whimpering in unison
there is nothing to do now
So I lie down
right next to you
one of you
And let the waves crash
crash
Renny Gong is in his third year at Columbia University. His work has appeared in The Adroit Journal, Split Lip Magazine, and Potomac Review. He is almost always feeling a bit bloated. Twitter: @rennyxgong
