Mi Hermano Esteban

(stillborn)

Mommi, you are choking me,
I told her as I emerged from the sea.

The fishes schooled me
with wooden clubs of air.

A sea turtle exited its shell
to prove God knows not what.

A whale will only spout
the party line.

I don’t know if it was
the Panama Canal.

In fact, it was me choking her
not the other way around.