Brighter When Wet

Kai Coggin

My wife bought us bath salts from Germany,
deep colored rocks glowing in their jars,
one eucalyptus-arnica-rosemary-sun-gold,
the other valerian-hops in rich teal ocean midpoint depth,
the shade between sea floor and surface. 

I reach for the teal, almost always,
sing in the shades as the waterfall of water
swirls in the hues of deep blues,
makes the smallest waves white capping in the bathtub,
steam rises and pulls me by the chin
to sink my body into this oceanic deep. 

I remove the day, strip myself
of the expectations and the pain,
the way my soul strives and my flesh endures,
and I stand naked waiting to become this color. 

I displace the waves with all my bodies,
from physical to divine I dive
into the teal song to feel in this new luminance,
to speak in shades of aqua and azure,
lapis lazuli and indigo,
and deeper in I go,
into the undertones of light bouncing
to the backs of my eyes,
oh, make me vivid,
paint me blue,
skin soak this teal tinge into my cells,
I beg you. 

I am a soft whale singing
the deeper and deeper I swim in these tones,
splashing like a slick fish
wild with iridescence,
I soak hoping to be stained,
vying to be dyed in this end of the spectrum,
permeate me, imbue me with this hue
for I am Venusian, take me home,
my skin is normally a nebula,
the unspoken blue of the most outer space,
and I am an earthbound star, brighter when wet—
I pick up the light and remember.