Water emerges. Under

The shower in Lisbon

‍

the sprout serenades

my body, it pusates

‍

a sprawling spring.

Gushing, I close

‍

my eyes & I am

stuck, in the sea,

‍

lopsided against

the rushing waves.

‍

He died

in the water, he couldn't swim.

‍

Same day I see a headline

of a Sudanese teenager

‍

washed up on the shores of

Calais. To drown. He died

‍

In the water, he couldn't

Swim. My mother tells me of a boat

‍

capsized in Cox's Bazar,

deep ecology.

‍

She fears water, so I do, too.

Traumatic retention, but have I drowned?

‍

I cannot recall. But I do recall Pacha Mama,

a merciful beast,

we don't deserve you.

‍

He died in the water, he couldn't swim.

The wildness usurped him, engulfing him cold.

‍

Mama, take what is yours,

we are born of you, seventy percent.

The tides call us, an adhaan.

I am a wave, take me, I pray.

‍

Mother, make me strong.

If you want my body, I won't fight.

‍

I'll die in the water, too.

I'll swim to you.