FAMILY IS AN ILLUMINATION OF SHOULDERS

Walking the ocean with my mother she’s every age
she’s ever been. My shoulder cupped in the shadow
of her shoulder nested against heaving shoulders

of the sea. All of us breathing, all of us threaded by salt.
My lover and I decide to parent a dog. Continent
of paddling fur, clawed toe on my knee, hospitality

of eyes that say more. We used to be two shoulders
brushing, now more. Love smells of earth, dander
and rain. At night I write letters to my grandmother’s

brother. Dear Mendi, my thoughts become fingers
yellowed hands one hundred years old. Mendi
of the boats, needle threading island to island

I know you, my eyebrows grow closer together on
the wet bridge between bedroom and cousin. Mendi
of the boats that left Europe. My lover and I visit

my grandmother, sit biceps touching as she asks
about Russia in Spanish. Asks them cuantos idiomas?
Asks us how many beds do you sleep in? We don’t lie

and we don’t tell the truth, we just give her our eyes.
My mother reminds me every visit, Don’t tell her.
Mendi of the traveling forearms, Mendi of sand, long buried

north of Jerusalem. Mendi have you seen, in these countries
the cities are too far away from the sea, granddaughters an ocean
apart from their mothers of course they would wind up in bed

with more breasts. Surely a creature with no language
can more easily love me. A skull mossed over with
black and white spots, ducking into my crotch

as an act of affection. Beside a small lapping
beast, I know I am a beast, hot curve of her belly
leaning into my thigh. I push my face into her
face.