Diagnosis as Iceberg

I will not live
fractured and cold,
selves shard severed
until I cannot
find my way
home. An ocean
is no place
to hide. Broken
bodies claim here—
ships and sharks
surrendered as teeth
to claim the abyss.
They know how
far the bottom lies.
The world would
make me lose
simply by existing,
like the turtle vanished
or the oldest living
mollusk cracked wide
as the warming tide
researchers discovering only
death inside. I am
trying to harden.
I do not want
a watered-down life.
Photo by Asile Clairette on Unsplash