we grew out of the soil
from ancient coastal cities
with music in their names
we have forgotten
the names of the cities
the meaning of the rhythms
we traversed the unknown
unwillingly eaten by a thing
we would come to know have
names for but that would come
later after we learned to swim
without water to fly
without wings
to hold our breath
praying for the morning
before suffering lead us
to imagine locomotion
a way of
being born again
after dying out of
the known to the nothing
to conjure life
in the belly of death
burning in the night
claim the body
dig the hole
in the morning
gone now taken
made holy ghost
invisible
learning to walk without legs
to climb by
instinct reclaiming
recreating making new out
of scraps of memory
of necessity
in the name of survival written
in blood ink
the story of becoming
to overcome
still overcoming standing
on broken things that
struggled to leave
enough to stand on
giving all and all
to the all and all of
going forward
knee deep in nightmares
of bloody leaves
successions of shallow graves
without markers
walking on water in
a storm
roaring through centuries of
trying to make it
to the morning
after the thunder stills
the lightening is quiet
the road is clear the path open
the rain subsides
and the way is clear
so that rising is possible
each generation standing
on the other reaching
for the sun singing
fire songs to stars reflected
on a still ocean
—————–
Painting: Intense Thoughts by Laurie Copper