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---
title: The ocean overflows with camels
id: theoceanoverflowswithcamels
genre: verse
project:
title: Elegies for alternate selves
class: elegies
order: 7
prev:
- title: Ars poetica
link: arspoetica
next:
- title: The boar
link: boar
...
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.
[shirt]: lovesong.html
[left hook]: roughgloves.html
[father]: angeltoabraham.html
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