After Jaws,
Marine photographers wouldn't shoot a great white
with her mouth open, to combat unfair prejudice against the creature.
I made that up and decided I'd read it.
Nabokov once read an article about a monkey in a cage
who, given charcoal and paper, drew the bars of its cell.
What was this lie meant to teach us?
Sometimes the way sharks are lit in photos makes their snouts look huge
and soft as clown noses.
He puts his mouth on her fin during mating, to stabilize,
they sway in the ocean without arms to hold each other.
An article jokes, "shark sex is 50 shades of rough"
but I think it may be tender.
I hold your hair during sex
and keep my hand
on the back of your skull
in case it hits the headboard.
Shark bites during mating can leave bad scars.
She doesn't care because she's an animal. She doesn't wince, or sigh.
I'm not a shark rape victim. She can't raped.
The consistency of plaster should be like toothpaste.
love is tacky
and good for adherence.
you can slice yourself
skinning a shark
grating cheese
sanding smooth the stucco
of an old home
my scars are white and plastered over,
painless even to a firm touch.
You prime our walls,
I mix a sort of shiny gray.
I think I'll paint a little great white
beneath the cabinets in the kitchen
You stand with the roller in your hand,
singing, and waiting for me to help.