Our bodies give
into the ocean rolling
us beneath its tongues How do we sing
our loss
with water brimming our throats? Oh
Sea, You
are greedy and transform us—
our faces soft and opening
You do not wash
but strike and shove You
rinse babies from our arms leave
husbands waiting
We spin in your disregard You
upend this body We
praise your ruin
Our monuments
rooting bones in all shores
Copyright © 2020 by Ashaki M. Jackson. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on September 11, 2020, by the Academy of American Poets.