strobium – Shriram Sivaramakrishnan

ancient slippage[⸻]the light
                                 decay between farsea and a tide pool pleating into my imperfect
gaze[⸻]ebbfroths
         that suncribbles defy and kelpcables that defy sunscribbles for[⸻]now[⸻]in this
cove
                          [⸻]nant
                                     of shingles[⸻]slices of elephant seals doze next to slices 
elephant-sealed on the sand[⸻]a bull
                                     buffers to his bae in a hymnody of gutpuns[⸻]oblivious
         to us spangled on sans-serifed
                                     boulders[⸻]when i scream
                            i only hear my heartbeat
                                                           [⸻]errorizing
                                                           [⸻]errorising preen of a strobe
there is a way out[⸻]this is a
         saltbarrel
                  for the wind wishing[⸻]a turn[⸻]at persistent 
                                  absences between rows of quartz teeth[⸻]like soda caps scooped 
                                                out[⸻]i
spot an estranged kelp bulb a 7mm
                                        Allen wrench a white heron the sound[⸻]of waves till the 
                                sound hits the 
waves[⸻]hit
aquifered orogenies[⸻]ancient spillage

Shriram Sivaramakrishnan graduated from Boise State University’s MFA program in May 2022. Some of his recent poems have appeared in Rivulet, DIAGRAM, among others. He tweets at @shriiram.