we wanted to escape our stranded dolphin parents
but were wary of strangers
butterflies still sat
on our shoulders when we drew under the table
in sugary rivalry, in the darkness of an ordered house

whoever got the cake-crumbs slicing through the table's thin cracks
was the winner, dazed with sweets and candied floss
but the one who cut into the waxed tablecloth
got his arms pinned behind his back
before he knew what was happening

those crumbs still nest
in the knocking well of my forked thighs,
in my house of bones, cherries and sliced apples
that your wet tongue could wipe away, sampling
what remains of those dolphin parents, now beached in illness

you still bring back from there faded scents of cheap coffee
stuck to your childhood eyelashes. we can't give up
those powerful animals. they always crouch
beneath us, in the darkness of an ordered house,
their voices wind on endless loop

ahead

translated by Gig Ryan