alligator jawed –
that sinewy snap
realization
that after all this time
two wrongs do make a right
and other stories whispered by
seashells
(who have since gone mouthless)
like the movies or good pain
or you have potential
which promised something you couldn’t hold –
but felt had been taken from you,
(a fish between fingers).
when you took your pungent heart
by the wrists and named him.
because he burned through enamel
and linoleum and bicycle
wheels and carved cavities in your
teeth large enough
to bury a dog.
large enough
for mouthless seashells,
(toothless daydreams)
and an odd number
of wrongs.
Maya Renaud-Levine is a sophomore at Beacon High School, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She sings in a chorus, plays the piano, goes for long walks with friends, and inhales crime novels. She is published or forthcoming in The WEIGHT Journal, Idle Ink, and TRUANT LIT, and is a national winner of the American High School Poets’ JUST POETRY!!!, the National Poetry Quarterly.
