here
a mouth opens, teeth
like keels widen wounds
into navigable waterways
here
a grappling hook draws first,
turns skin white, slow to crimson
years grow the yellowgrey of moths
here
forearm vessels burst
unseaworthy – hulls crack
masts snap, ink runs like blood
here
a crab’s claw etches what remains
a taut blank sheet between fading
bruises, flocked with keloid seabirds
here
we pretend marks are clear
skin stories – knifed bark
burnished knees, tooled leather