i knew that i was magic because i was
and when sandra put her foot in the
water
she became a whale and she was
beached
holy shit, sandra, i yelled at the
water
looking past her toward the cruise
ship
that looked like a top hat on the
horizon
she soaked me with her blowhole and i
fell
under the intense pressure; i used my
magic to lift her
but i was not in control; i landed
her on the pier
her thrashing moved her closer to the
shore
and her body crushed scads of
children
building sandbanks and sandmalls and
scheming
to make a city of crabs with bank
accounts
and houses stuffed with crab blenders
and water beds
and sandra crushed their future with
her weight
she began crying, i am so fat, i am
so fat
you are a sperm whale, i said and i
touched her face
she drew back toward the water and
looked at me
knowingly and with great sadness for
what she knew
the thing i didn't know, that would
eventually hurt me
that relationships that start under
intense circumstances
never last; they become crushed by
the weight
of expectations for life to always be
exciting
and dangerous like a city of crabs on
a beach run by humans
i felt my magic grow stronger in my
new knowledge
and i lifted sandra and placed her
into the deep water
and watched her swim away from me to
where all things originate