In the tank, they let you touch her
slime-slick arms uncoiling
for yours, your hands going white
in the cold water. Her body
is a different kind of a metal,
a copper bracelet wrapped around
your wrist. She could pick you up
like nothing, hold you so still and close
you forget the air.
A body like hers never forgets
the violence of survival.
She could disappear
through a crack in the glass.