I keep having dreams about beached whales
about the sweating End Of The World
about draping the whale in wet sheets to make its last hours not as sweltering because it sure does feel hotter and hotter out here  

I’m wrapping my own swelling body in cotton still wet from the dryer
Not really the same sentiment but still too warm and too damp  

I ask myself if I know how dangerous it is to keep swelling like this
Letting my skin travel farther and farther from my bones
I ask myself if they even remember what it felt like to like to live in that tent I starved to make
All tight and stretched and looked at  

I quickly shake off that spiral and go
and soak another beach towel
getting sweat in my eyes while I whisper encouragemnt to the whale