Perceptive

Sea says alley-oop—sea is a poor 
performance with a squeegee—

sea is a screen showing track- 
and-field footage—sea collects 

all kinds of clippings—toenail, 
magazine, grass—sea keeps sanctity 

in aluminum cans—sea is rain, 
a whole lot of it—sea regresses 

to gray again—sea is a piece 
of linoleum with cuts where

a knife was dropped—sea says 
persuasive, squander, sway—

sea is nylon shower curtains 
to catch drips and debris—sea

shows a fecal smear—sea is 
mica, Masonite, wet cardboard 

wadded up—sea survives
all its gunshot wounds—sea 

is a quilt, dingy from a body’s 
oils, from dragging the hem—

sea is a hung jury, a psalter,
a heckler, a crone—sea swears

someone tracked the mud in—
sea stutters, tells it like it is.