I Find Roots Floating in Open Water

Spoken Word

I find roots floating in open water,
between the devil and the dark
of the deep blue glass ceiling.
My roots, my appendages, suspend and weave into
this moving blue.
I don’t need stars or sun or sight to navigate through cross currents.
Each raised hair on my skin, each freckle and pore
give me vision, lead me, feed me as the ocean
swaddles and sways with and through them.
Here I know what my hands and heart are for.
The scale of my spine and mind imbibe and mime the earth’s liquid pulse.
The echoes of the devil’s call from below
and the breeze of angel wings rippling from above present the shiver of choices
to engage or curl against
their aqueous transmissions.

more by A. M. LAINE

photograph by Ismail Nieto

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