It's because we find ourselves here
again, lost to the muck, sunk,
we find ourselves like pilfered pearls
washing in after many months in a pocket.
When I painted turtle shells down at the fish pond,
our initials shone bright pink -
mother's toenails, grammy's lipstick,
I stole the shade from the medicine chest
and I've been stealing ever since.
I found you in the shallows
of the public swimming pool,
slapping open palms against the surface,
splash and scream finding your lips in the same moment.
The water was much clearer then. There are seventy
stones from years combing shoresides,
and the collection grows: we find
ourselves, covered in mud, winking
with a flex of opalescence.