Meltdown at High Tide
I pour night blooming
jasmine petals into
the craters of my body.
Swarms of invertebrates
peek out from tidepools,
like swirls of dust rippling
moonlight. The tide climbs
my legs & runs away
with my flowers. I shush
the crabs who won’t stop
banging their claws against
the cave walls of my chest.
I lie still until the echoes finish
skipping out into the distance
to where the water meets
the beginning of stars.
In the morning, you are curled
around me while all of the crabs
snore peacefully, claws askew,
beside your synthesizer whose
music blossoms & harmonizes
with the receding waves.
lae astra is a queer trans artist in Tokyo who loves painting with sound, color, light, and words. Their work appears or is forthcoming in fifth wheel press, Bullshit Lit, Strange Horizons, manywor(l)ds, and elsewhere. Find them at laeastra.com/links.
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