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---
title: 'The ocean overflows with camels'
project: 'Elegies for Alternate Selves'
...
We found your shirt deep in the dark water, \
caught on the clothesline of sleeping pills. \
Your head on the shore was streaming tears \
like sleeves or the coronas of saints saved \
from fire. The burning bush began crying \
like a child who misses his mother. Traffic \
slammed shut like an eye. God's mean left hook \
knocked us out, and we began swimming. \
Bruises bloomed like algae on a lake. \
Your father beat your chest and screamed \
for someone to open a window. The air \
stopped breathing. Fish clogged its gills. \
Birds sang too loudly, trying to drown out \
your father's cries, but all their sweetness \
was not enough. No polite noises will be made \
anymore, he told us, clawing your breastbone. \
He opened your heart to air again. Camels \
flowed from you both like water from the rock. \
God spoke up, but nobody listened to him. \
We hung you up on the line to dry.
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