Half Truths

You with a gull’s beak
Pecking at my
Dry bone skull
Embarrassing to think
Of our words
Naked as jelly fish
Flung on the beach
Left open to the tortures
Of a child’s curious stick
Words which reveal
But never the whole truth
Lies that need
The ocean to breathe
Like fish gasping
For air as they
Wreck against sand and air
We tell our half shell
Truths like open meaty
Clams that have been eaten
Hollow by the salty winds.