By Claire LeMaster
I wait for the sunrise, you for the set
The dark always met you warmly like the wet flesh of an oyster
But me, I irritated in that cave
Restless, pacing while you painted her little room coral pink
put up shelves and hung pictures, built a home
I still ache to open wide and let my long tongue lick the curve of my shell
And taste saltwater summers
a thunderbolt of lightning behind clenched teeth
I roll and gnash and flop from room to room
Wrapping myself in ever more socks and scarves and blankets
Filling every corner with artificial suns
Sod the bills
I know someday it will all come rushing back
Like the cold shock of sea foam drowning on sand
And I will be cracked open and called precious
As though my restless cancer was no more than
A small inconvenience to form a pearl