The Leviathan

Let me drown along the shores of Kaohsiung.
Let grains of sand, like memories, scrape down my throat
to fill my lungs with unmelted glass.

Let me dive deep. I have become a sea beast
with gnashing teeth and sharp, iridescent scales —
limbs akimbo and ruby blood trailing

in my wake. Further still I’ll go,
until fins scrape against the ocean floor
and all around me is ink and cold and still.

Let small creatures skitter, eager to devour my corpse.
Let me decompose at last, over endless hours—days—weeks—
until only weary bones remain.

– AJ Wilcox