opportunity and staying the same (2)

without faith, and the girls would dance along the edges with singes on their feet,
but the boys would watch,
consuming, every little cell until all that was left
were their clothes in curlicues
and cutouts
of the shapes where they had once filled out the curves of the point sides
below the beach line.  sinking.
the girls with the clothes but no skin are ragged little dolls
with broken nails and cuticles bitten bloody;
the girls with no clothes but the skin have the road underfoot and will travel until
they find a place where sinking doesn’t hold water, and it’s all