Dice

Barnacles wager arms, shoulders, teeth—all thingswagered in dice—against the tentacles fondlingthe underbelly of the catamaran dubbed sunk;sailing the ocean floor itself, churning rockswith its propeller; the swirls creating lollipops

in sand, coarse enough that it removes taste budsfrom the barnacles, who wager arms, shoulders, teeth—all things wagered in dice—against the ocean’strenches where their appendages wait for themto finally tell the truth: mummified in seaweed

is Agamemnon; wearing his mask is a tiny fleetof six shrimp under the promise of receiving his will:arms, shoulders, teeth—all things wagered in dice—against the angler fish with a blown bulb; sittingin retinue of the sun’s disappointment in his

monstrosity; a father’s discipline snatchingthe light from the soldiers of jewel squids, blackswallowers, and the fractured faces of chimaeras,all orphans, all abandoned by their guardian, alltrenched, all things wagered, in dice.