you said your skin was a long, thin dam
trying to contain the yukon river
and your mouth was the bering sea
your philtrum the bering strait
and your lower half (approx. 37 inches)
therefore alaska
then the bering sea curled crescent
as you told me in a pride-hushed whisper
how you hold america’s third longest river
and i can’t believe your satisfaction
with being only a tertiary structure
you lift up your waterlogged arms, splashing and
sloshing before your fingertips collide with the
shore of my cheek
and you ask me how I enjoy being a puddle.