Early Sol Gadong
I stared at the pool of sweat that collected
In your belly button, damp all over.
Love, the ocean is seventy percent of the Earth,
Our bodies seventy percent water.
You taste like the ocean,
And are just as insecure.
Why do you love me?
That was last night’s Messenger notification
While I was making a presentation
On Visayan Sea’s threatened marine biodiversity.
How does one even answer a question
On something that obeys no rules other than its own?
Who gets to claim ownership
Of the sea in the pit of your stomach
When I am as much yours as you are mine?
What if the fish came from China?
Who will pay for our damaged reefs?
Phytoplankton are our main source of oxygen.
I dove back to breathe you in.
You taste like the ocean.
