The Pacific begs me to swim away, anything
to keep us from strangling each other
on the boardwalk. The Freakshow

is where our love belongs, a two-headed
oddity feasting on dust and bone
until there is nothing left of us. 

You sell watercolors of women's faces
and I write the words nobody wants
to remember. I want you to paint

me. You want me to write about us: 
As the sun sets over the ocean
I fade into your torn canvas. 

Nobody knows we’re fighting; even seagulls
refuse the scraps of our misery. We become debris, 
swirling shreds of paper in the salty wind. 

Nathan Elias is the author of A Myriad of Roads that Lead to Here (Scarlet Leaf Publishing House, August 2017). Nathan writes and makes films out of Los Angeles, CA where is currently earning an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University. His work has appeared in The Blotter, Red Fez, Eclectica Magazine, Hobart, Literary Orphans, Birdville Magazine, and elsewhere. His film 'The Chest' premiered in Cannes Film Festival 2015.