NANCY PEARSON

NOTES TO A CLAM, 2

Some nights we both dream of teeth. I wake from my noisy engine of sleep. You wake from yours. By morning, the marsh erases what is lost— My teeth swim forward like minnows caught in a Ziplock of breath. Some nights I hear you chew your bright lips. I think of white cabbage tacos & also, of clams. All evening the mudflats tongue at my window. I want to throw back today's harvest, all the living rocks in my pail. Tonight, the sky drops another shiny molar. The wedge footed moon crawls for the sea. I fall asleep and my crumbling words build remote islands. Only you, with your hollow beak, can fly that far.

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