Sun Whisper

may say it soft and white
and may nod

- gray nod,
my skin like the stateroom curtains
my fingers amputated -

may say it to the captain clear and loud
maybe over a cocktail; it is
unimportant to you
and will change nothing for you.

I can say anything now.

what I say I may say
the way my father looks
when he is drunk
and alone in
New York

when the wind rolls

I may say it the way
your father will look
when he hears
of you,
cold daughter.

my open eyes pressed
onto the port-hole glass -

my thinking may amuse
my strangled lover
as she floats to
New Orleans

as I stretch down some
thousand feet and pull
her free from some snag
along shore.