SINK THEN SWIM

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This poetry mini-collection is born primarily of the water and air, taking mythological inspiration in places to explore themes of time, womanhood and freedom.

free

the girl awakens

at the sweet tangle of land and sea

with salted lungs

and bones of splintered rock

a creature among others except

for magic laced in inky tongue

she cries for joy

and the earthen colosseum

that embraces her

resounds the delight

she finds herself fixated

by the spry wind and rain sweeping

supple auroras and constellations

on the sea surface

where turquoise shallows

graze a swelling sky

and dark phantoms race

through to the deep blue

like wandering souls hurrying home

without a thought she finds herself

mimicking the brushes and strokes

raising her hands to the clouds

drawing out the sun.

when the first darkness falls

it puts naked flame to shame

swallows it whole

and curses the spark

the girl shelters in waiting

but sleeps not for the rush

that the howling wind and waves

imitate in her blood

she longs for the blackened heart

of the ocean below

its spells and mysteries

the stars swallowed

she stirs to find

the power of the ocean

seized by a vengeful sky

it rumbles and rages

drawing cerulean blood

from the mouth of

a great beast below

spits it back

in an act of ancient theatre

a torrid love

she races to the shoreline

bare skin on slicked moss

the rocks unfurl around her

like folds of her brain

she clutches them fiercely

her salt heart pounding

like the cracks in the sky

it is now

when steel waves clatter

against amber shores

a rocky cauldron

fizzing at her feet

when she joins

a divine saltation

a primordial melody

howling into the eye

of an immortal storm

it is now

that she is free

she is free, she is free, she is free

rain in corfu

contemplating something

underneath the gum tree

it feels like there’s a future to be had here

or certainly a past

let’s wait for the rain to start

then we’ll go swimming

little mouths will nip at our fingers

as the sky laments

you sense it too

the world has turned

colours of the land sunk

hostage beneath the surface

trump didn’t die today

but there’s always tomorrow

where’s the revolution

our taxi driver called for

3000 years ago

feels closer by the second

it’s almost suffocating

treading in its wake

let’s throw stones

to pass the time

then retrieve them

to fail it

contemplating nothing

underneath the gum tree

we’ll be here a while

we’ll be gone tomorrow

storm cell

Blip, Blip, Blip

our cabin flies at heights

inconceivable at best

warm pacific nights float by

adorned only with the low hum

of overhead lights

and a million twinkling stars

threat serves only

to consummate peace...

in the palest corner of an eye

the fates cackle

with flickering wit

in a blink

our journey becomes a premonition

a question not of what we are

but what we are not

blip

blip

a faintest shudder

signals the inevitable

frenzy of the heart

a fall prophesised

since our first footstep

the enveloped silence

takes us back there

it screams of

time’s retreat

blip

spine to spine

our celestial fiend

unfurls with sly fury

usurping the sky in

electric tendrils

and violent voice

our sturdy wings

surge then swing

frantically circumventing

the city of wicked spires

erupting around us

they illuminate with

orchestral strikes

of torrid indigo

burning acid rivers

into our irises

BLIP

we sit small as seed

while the convulsions grow

drawing monsters and gods

out of the dark

their smug eyes

rattle our bones

scare us senseless

BLIP BLIP BLIP

no choice but to

dive dive dive

into the nebulous beast below

what awaits us there

we will never know

blip

the moon creaks on its axis

with mournful pity

and says farewell

in the sweet free fall

we reply

a remorseful red blip

it is drowned out

in cosmic rendition.

slow burn

did every generation

feel they invented terror?

we see suffering is not stagnation

but rather a precipice

we saw the end of times was a slow slow burn

did you long for it?

lamia

little lamia knew she was born

not from womb but water

not from blood but light

apart from that she knew little

time hand in hand

showed her the ropes

the rituals and sites

of her violent becoming

years drifted on while

she posed with ambrosial craft

letting the stone’s icy dull

numb her sins and senses

like souls she held apathy

for the trials and trivialities of man

they doomed themselves

with or without her siren song

their barren tears and toils

tasted bitterer by the minute

 the thrill of the catch

a quenchless reward

in a sinking solitude she dwelled

on the illusions of bloodshed

she saw it was the victors

whose bones sunk to rest on the sea floor

and the prey who stayed put

fleshy links among the rocks

lulled by deceiving

apparitions of power

one day with sober song

she called out to her sisters:

men will die so that we may not live,

hear my voice now -

your magic rages

with the force of the ocean whole

it binds us

to the first stars and sky

close your eyes and listen

to that elder call

the deepest blue

surges in our hearts

time has greeted us

with this new dawn

my dear sisters

swim with me today.

aria

aria

your call

it inebriates the air

with whispering vines,

arteries laced

in baby’s breath

and winter’s whisky

they lulled this city

to sleep

all in hope

of finding me

i found you

floating like

an imprint from

lost worlds

a funereal beauty

weaving

man’s machine

into womb

your familiar trance

loses me too

i ask you

to taste

the lavender

on my lips

to wrap your

willow hair

over my eyes

to drink me in

as you sing so sweetly

to take me with you

when you wilt

your fevered spell

my love,

you need not call

once in a blue moon,

your melody

lashes evermore

against the riverbanks

of my heart

i tire of waking alone

seeing you only in

the crimson rain

and the wilted flowers

on my nightstand

i want you

to find me

as on our first night

where the cherry blossoms sing

in perpetuity

under the bruised midnight sky

i will be there

whispering into

the glowing veil

between worlds

be mine,

aria