Vacation on the Oregon Coast. Three boulders – massive – like the ancient bodies of dinosaurs rise from the ocean.
We fall asleep on the beach and Levi wakes covered – tiny hard shells leaking meaty worm bodies. She is silent at first as I break off each one – try to be delicate at first, as delicate as I can with metal pliers. Her skin bleeds at the parting, and she has never looked more human, rendered blind and lobster.
Girl or god, I love –
it doesn't last. Here,
there is fury.
She gnaws and snaps each creature, feral at the pain. Water comes off her in waves of steam. The opened shells burst – creamy eggs melting on the shoreline.
After, we lie in the sand. Underneath her, the grains turn a slow crimson.