Saturday, December 30, 2006

you breathe differently down here*

I have come through
high snowy gullies
foraging for warmth

a pressing in my chest
set by an unfamiliar
altitude lifts as I descend

to walk barefoot
among broken shells
in washing waves.

A salty mist settles
against my skin,
even the air is saline.

A white-belly moon
reflects the expanding
ripples of skipped pebbles

for a brief moment
before a rolling swell
reels them under.

December 30, 2006
*title from Diving Into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich

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