We dove for the
Sea of sheets

We swam. Bodies –
Waves of skin, slugs
Of saltwater heat

Each kiss a
Blow of sunlight, mouths
Anchor, thrusts
Disturbing the flow
Of breathing, seconds
Moaned and pushes and pulls speed
We are reaching

Coming
To the slow
Halt.

We recover
Dripping.

Mark Acero is an emerging pansexual poet from the southern Philippines. He has received poetry writing fellowships from the 1st Cagayan de Oro Writers Workshop, the 2017 Kausaban Creative Writing Workshop, and the 2018 Kagis Creative Writers Workshop. His poems have previously appeared in the Bulawan Literary Journal of Northern Mindanao. He is a member-fellow of local writers collective Nagkahiusang Magsusulat sa Cagayan de Oro (NAGMAC). He is currently working on a chapbook of pansexual and bisexual-themed poems.