Houses on the Ocean
By Allison Phillips
Do you think if we figured out how
to build houses on the ocean
we would? Raze
the next line of trees tear
the homes of beetles birds
rip open the maw of the earth
and pour grey greige cement into it
forget what spring-green looks like
except when it’s hideously
smeared on the side of
noise-polluting machines. Our houses
on the ocean rock with her
waves and we forgot
what color the water
was supposed to be before
we got our oil blood
stained hands on it trash
suffocating our children too
plastic choking the fragile neck of
the future
we won’t see
Allison Phillips (she/her) is a dual MA/MFA candidate in Creative Writing, Editing, and Publishing. Her work appears in All Existing, Haunted Portal Magazine, By the Beach and As Alive Journal and is forthcoming in t’ART Press’s Queer Teeth Anthology. She is currently working as an Assistant Marketing, Design, & Social Media Manager for Defunkt Magazine. She lives in Huntsville, Texas with her two cats.
Instagram: @ a.alliecat
Twitter: @ alliecatbooks
