for cameron

during the blue maw eclipse, 

the sun-swallowing whale harbors us 

in her deep indigo night-belly. 

her soft-swaying blowhole breeze 

presses cold into the apple folds of your cheeks. 

star-studded constellation ribs become a garden 

where acres of spider-eye stars bloom. 

venus and the other fireflies flicker 

through the pithy dusk of this womb. 

angler fish sip city lights like heady red wine, 

and sink slowly into the depths of the whale-soft, 

they swallow the velvet warmth of your bedroom lamp.

 the celestial octopus curls into the sweet dark, 

arms settling across the set of your shoulders, 

pressing your seasick eyes into slumber. 

little bug-comets flee from barnacled head to petaled tail, 

where oyster-tender clouds slump and rise, 

leaving pearly, beetle-backed trails. 

as the breast of this whale-sky heaves and sighs.

i whisper my heart to the cat’s-eye moon,

i tell her, i love you, 

and i’ll see you sometime soon.