V. Inventory

“Inventory”

She wakes, angrily
again on her raft,
compass gone missing,
lost to the sea
Oar, canteen, bag and
Ocean remaining,
Again.
Of hands,
there are 2
Of lips, 2,
Of bodies, 1,
Of thoughts
Hers;
Alone.

---

“Brave tears”

Last night
She cried
It had been days
Since tears burned
That she had told herself
Brave soldiers,
Brave seamen,
Brave
Did not shed.

---

“Beasts”

But the daemons
Remaining
Hate is amusement
For the tired
Bored
Lost

Only virtue
–a near impossible feat–
Saves
the few
From transforming
Into beasts.

---

IV. Adaptation

“Addicted”

From fruit of the land
he tattoos his page
ink in hand,
ink in skin,
ink in veins,
scratch the ink,
down
and in.
Adrenaline,
addicted.
This ink
scratching
is how he’ll live;

Pushing ink in.

---

“Hair”

Rich mahogany
hair
has lightened
to birch in places
dried.
She cares not
how she appears,
but imagines
the peculiar expression
of passing sea faring witnesses
with mouths agape.
They might wish
to save her
from the sea.
She would
kindly ignore the offer,
barter supplies,
bid farewell,
and sail on.

III. Thoughts

“Wondering”

Storm
and another week
passed,
Wondering.

She wonders
how supplies
for 1
seem to be
never ending
in supply

A skeptical believer
sometimes
suspects.
Her fortune
On this quest
so far
Gifted
by some
Benevolent,
Omniscient
Power.

---

“Acquiescence”

And then
one day
she stopped
counting the days
since she
had stepped
aboard.
She had never considered
that cabin fever
or being castaway
could be
so terrible

“Home is where the heart is”
She whispers
to her shadow.

---