Surviving the Break

Buffy Aakaash

In our race to be the next Jacques Cousteau
we run straight for the exposed jetties to find
our pearls — kelp-laden pools that call our eyes.
He and I are twelve, and aim to master marine biology.
Our faces scrunch to the quirky odor I recall
as not unlike the birth of my niece and the death
of my grandmother all at once that same year. 

Amidst the ins and outs of waves, we find families
of glistening mussels affixed to rocks forever,
blue gill crabs and baby clams on wet sand,
an ocean dance of tiny blennies and gobies.           

                        All who survive and depend on the break.
                                    As we all do. As he and I will.

Of all the seashells we had collected together
we never expected that one. Resting
peaceful and submerged, safe from ocean pummels,
aside a tuft of bladderwrack, a tiny and prized
wentletrap we bring home and clean, boil,
remove the small animal from the crusty “operc.”
We must decide which one of us found it first, 

so we can add a notch to our progress
in becoming what our hearts are set on.
We settle on a "joint discovery,"
as the next set of waves begins to break

                         and the world we knew disappears.

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Buffy Aakaash
Buffy Aakaash finds solace and inspiration in the church of Nature, whether under forest canopy, or immersed in the womb of the ocean. Having lived in queer communes and big cities across the US, he now resides in Vermont with his pug companion, Bodhi. His chapbook Untangling the Knots was published in 2022. A full volume called Breaking was published in October of 2025. He has poems in Main Street Rag, The Brussels Review, and The North, among others.