It started in dreams
Wings giving way to tail
Your scales growing in phases
taking away more of you
We wrapped your knees and ankles with ribbons first
binding away your humanness
losing your kick
You stitched and sewed
a rainbow cocoon
losing hips, ankles, and knees
forcing you to master dolphin undulations
In dreams seamless
Rising and falling each crested wave
Breathing in your ocean
Salting you Mermaid
Her dream grew Too large Imagination spilling Filling her room Needing out Creeping upon its windowed reflection In pane Shelved dolls listening Hearing the dream’s gasp Unable to split the seam of…
To her children she was magic-- kneading flour and water into sticky loaves that rose on the window’s ledge, planting seeds that grew into plucked potatoes. Wrestling a chicken with one hand,…
I held her tight Her weight in my lap boxed to let her go gently Water & wind ready to embrace her The sun falling halfway Our metal casket gleaming mid-flight I…
fireplace smoke rising morning coffee brewing old men's cherried pipes and trees Do you miss the scents of earth? fresh-cut grass after rain? salty ocean breezes? pink camellias? or my skin?