THE GIRL IN THE BOAT

The rose spots

On her face like a leopard

Lit warm as the sun overhead

Held its rays out past the night

Reaching to her like a child

To a mother who had

Been

Gone

A

Long

Time

Beaming

Across waters where

Creatures had

Never known its warmth.

In depths dark and watery

As the cave of his inner-being,

Cold

She doubted she was One,

But maybe the Ocean,

Blood filled

And nothing else.

Vapid and airy

He glided over the earth

After work, after long

Hours of sitting

At conference tables.

Discarding his clothes.

His shoes kicked off

And fell from depths

Like a broken ledge off a cliff

Landing in the Sahara

For the poor who hadn't

Known coverings,

Took to them as

Super-natural.

And the watery depths

Dried, and the tunnels and channels

Became like bedrock.

Mystery was high above,

On wings passing over

Snow-capped mountains

And your socks

Dropped down too.

Naked and filthy

With no sense of stopping

Or noticing,

Those below,

Toiling the ground.

She was in the water,

On a boat

At this time

And

As the sun warmed her ways

Like a compass pointing North

She held the fins of

Porpoises and dolphins

And small fish

Handing out promises,

Looking them deep in the eye

Of their being

Instructing them to keep

On swimming;

Follow the motion

Of the sun's radiance on

Its surface

And you'll be fine.

She'd dive deep at times,

With them

To alleviate their lonesomeness

Adding courage to their

Journey.

stephanie l jordan-renz