80/twenty

Clams don’t smile

or care

about you.

it’s not indifference

or apathy.

if they had clam hands

they would not hug you.

with clams mouths

they would not talk to you.

At the bottom of the shallow sea

they bed

concerned not of you or me.

cupped by the large earth in displaced sand

they exist for themselves.

you cannot win them over.

you simply don’t matter

to clams.