what it feels like, seventeen years in a shower stall

called homeostasis,

step in the shower

let the lukewarm water smear 

temperature and time 

step in the shower

The tap water gushes, hushes, rushes

The tap water quenches your sweet 

and smooth clarity coats your throat

and minerals don’t come off your tongue

homeostasis.

Replace what you have lost.

take back what you have given.

a tongue for a tongue 

an eye for an eye

soft water and hard water. 

open your mouth

swallow a whole swallow

your salt tastes better, but your tears run off your cheeks.

Instead drink minerals that don’t come off your tongue,

your throat, 

your insides—

sometimes when I try to reach

my back with the soap bubbles floating on my hand

sometimes when I twist

and turn

I feel the lining of my belly 

scrape

against stalactites, stalagmites.