“Long // Beach” by Malia Waddles

Graphic by Josie Zevin

Long ago,

Crouched in a final goodbye,

I swallowed a spoonful of Nesquik to coat my lips

In childlike tenderness, one last time.

My tongue:

Slick with bliss and nostalgia.

My gaping jaws:

Coiled in the sweet fluency of my mother’s knitted love.

The sugar melts to a plain and bitter angst, but

A warm body reaches through,

Pockets of love hidden in the space between:

A feathered neck seeking my attention.

Too little, too late.

The stale and quiet halls,

Creaking floorboards,

And dusty corners

Await a new story,

Yearning for a new host to torture.

My ears are numb

Without the blood pumping through

To fuel their power.

My heart is an ocean away.

Beach-born memories call my name, squawking to absent and flooded drums.