1698 c/o David Tomaloff

SHIPS ON THE STORMY SEA, 1698
—after the drawing by Ludolf Bakhuizen

our hands twist together, taking the forms of two white
sails. the right keeps the dogs from pulling us asunder, while
the left moves us forward, keeps the harrowers at length.
we inherit soft bodies, once drawn
from the breath of the sea—
its silence ever calling us back from across the tide.