release.

you’ll find nothing but sodden footprints

coming from the river.
the egrets like goddesses stand in the
stiff marsh grasses before the sun has warmed
the sky, and much could drown in such shallow water
while the shadows remain long.
unless i became something else,
my sealcoat hidden under skin.

i cannot find gracefulness on land, and i’m not sure
what luck i am.
if i step into a net
will i still have been caught, and
would you still want me, water
beading on my lips.
a flick, a glint in the light. you'd see.

then tales they tell of the restless seas
come to trawl me back.
what would remain grounded after the waves crashed
down on us, the ocean came to reclaim its kind?
i could not ask you to fight the undertow beside me. sand
is not solid enough ground.
a quick swallow of water, a tiny asphyxiation, and with lungs filled i may swim away.
but without you, i would have drowned.

the sea is never satiated. you’ll hear me in the susurrus,
calling you toward the rocks.