by Carella Keil
as if a fluid poured into a jar
when you say we is it you and me
or you and the dead you tote around
who whispers in my ear licks my cheek
no one ever owned me but you
lightning cracking open old pines
a gouge that could not be deeper
than how you opened me
tell me again and again
how your teeth were meant for my shoulder
longing for your voice deeper than longing
for your hands your hands
so much of our singing
is with the dead for so long that belief
that belief in your quickness of breath
strong somewhere
talisman of my own survival necessary ingredient
salt salt salt salt
people who are not speaking of the moon
or the sea come as a lover laying her hair on my shoulder
are sharpening blades as if we weren’t born to cutting
as if we haven’t tasted emptiness at water’s edge
as if endings hadn’t been laid upon our tongues
from the very beginning
the finish was written you said
with a knife we put each word to that edge
understanding we had no time
some glyphs float on the surface
some are bone deep
when you said my name under the oaks
tide thick breeze hair tangled in our mouths
when you breathed my name
hands on my face
a different gravity spun up
we endure for this it was your gift
for me to hand to another
for me to carry not as weight
but voice from here to there
flame on a broken shore
libation poured on tide
unyielding sky all the cerulean cyan azure
burned into the eye
voice falling to ash
sand folding into sea
tide flowing from our hands
Peach Delphine is a trans poet from Tampa in la Florida.
Carella Keil is a writer and digital artist who creates surreal, dreamy images that explore nature, fantasy realms, melancholia and inner dimensions. Her art has been published in a myriad of literary and art magazines, including Chestnut Review, Wander Magazine and Skyie Magazine, and featured on the covers of Glassworks Magazine, Colors: The Magazine, Frost Meadow Review, Nightingale & Sparrow, and forthcoming on the cover of Straylight Magazine. instagram.com/catalogue.of.dreams twitter.com/catalogofdream.