The last morning
a small girl
leaned into the ocean
and scooped
invisibility
into a fast-food cup
scavenged
from seagulls

at the cabin
she poured the nothing
into a sphered vase
and held it to the light

within
what wasn’t danced
translucent
on the swells and eddies
of curiosity

waterous
oblivion display
adrift
in sunlit
glance

tabletop
centerpiece
of artful undoing
as we packed
for

home

where
I dumped the contents
of a lidded fast-food
soda cup
into the disposal
unthinking

she wept
inconsolable
rended
as I stood
helpless over
spinning
blades

her mother
then
and now
as she packs
to leave
I wonder

how many liquid days
remains poured
as wastage
held jellyfish

I only know
the one

.