[Issue 2022.63]

‘charybdis’, Marisca Pichette

Illustrations © 2022 Fluffgar

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      see her:
dancing at the bottom
—whirlpool kisses—
streams of bubbles
i forgot to taste as i swam
      gasping
in circles.

her toes are pointed fins
her hair the current
hugging me tighter
tighter, drawing me
      down
to her show.

      in the ocean’s roar
she’s laughing.
in the deepest darkness
her teeth shine
like abalone.

i’m sinking again
like yesterday and tomorrow
counting her fingers
      her toes
her eyelashes batting the barnacles
away

she is smaller than i remember
      happier than i was
more imperfect than i wanted
to see.

      waves reflect tears
into laughter,
      warp drowning
into dancing.

at the bottom she spins
and spins, spins
spins me in her skin,
enfolds me in a high tide of joy
      washing the sand
from my eyes.

© 2022 Marisca Pichette

[Issue 2022.63]

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