"Lagoon" by Asha Berkes

The cut on my ankle bleeds into the shape of an exclamation point You speak and it comes out ornate swirling, as if from an an ancient book I’m trying to follow those letters which are, inevitably, words, through the tall yellow grasses at the edge of the lagoon where your charm bracelet lays splayed in the sand and my nose disappears into the blue Let me tell you about swimming: The bleeding stops The world ends long enough for you to miss it The cold snaps, like a spell from the end of a wand melting fear into a body the weightlessness unhowling me In the water your words circle me floating in amongst the moon jellies On my back I watch my breasts like two pale ducks bob in the gentle waves I watch them fly away Your words bend into the exclamation point Make a portal of me A sentence of me A loudness of me I paddle back to shore a pearl growing under my tongue I settle into the meat between land and sea and decide to stay there ————————————– Asha Berkes called us from Tacoma, WA. voicemailpoems.org/submit/ facebook.com/voicemailpoems twitter.com/voicemailpoems instagram.com/voicemailpoems