Poetry | Old Turtle, Northern Lights, & Dad

Old Turtle

The water closes over my head.

Suddenly the rules change

The snorkel

is the only thing 

connecting

me to the landed life

Breathing in ….. out

slow deliberate rhythm

Equal in, equal out

Beyond the breakers

Movement is motionless

Floating in salty thickness

The deep world opens

Multi-colored shapes 

swimming in, around, through

hovering

It’s easy to stay too long

not wanting to return to the world of gravity

My snorkeling friends wait

We need to get back through the waves

I kick more determinedly

She calls.

I stop

midkick

pull knees to chest

turn back around

She stops

Beak to face

Old Turtle

barnacles ride on her massive shell swimming greenness

“Be,” she says

“long enough for barnacles to grow”

“Listen, long enough for barnacles to grow, in the silence,’ she says

Then she swung away and melted into the green haze.

Northern Lights

I AM sun fingers

darting sinuous light bands

playing cat’s cradle

The Confidence Grower

How many times

Dad ate my pies

“Mmm.  Pecan’s my favorite.

I like to eat the point first.”

Pumpkin, apple, lemon

Pie after pie after pie

Swelled my confidence

And I make good pie now

And,  now, I remember.

He never really liked dessert.

© Sandy Webb, 2023