by Cori Matusow
Natal Dream
You enter the Salmon stream
Your eyes are:
a) blueberry spray
b) eucalyptus grove
c) overcast sea glass
You are the natal dream of your ancestors,
your body the silver of their solstice moon,
It is the shortest night—
a) cry into the stones
b) bury your almost child in the riverbed
c) dance in the rippling lullaby of the reeds
Every day you shimmer scale, and your breath
catches a haze of hiccups (winter moths
caught in your ribcage)
a) there is joy in frozen feet
b) inside each eddy is the laugh of a lover
c) swim to the waterfall—you will know surrender.
Hannah Yerington is the author of Sheologies, published by Minerva Rising Press in 2023. She is the director of The Bolinas Poetry Camp for Girls and holds an MFA in Poetry from Bowling Green State University. Her work can be found in Porkbelly Press, Prism, Room Magazine, Half Mystic Press, Hey Alma, and Cascadia Daily News. She writes about Jewish magic, talking plants, and teenage girl ancestors. She lives in Bellingham, Washington, with her imp puppy, Poe. Find her on Instagram @hannahyerington.
Cori Matusow is a New York-based writer and photographer. Recent essays, short stories, and photographs have been published in the New Croton Review, Superpresent, Blink-Ink, and Penumbra. Cori has a forthcoming publication in under the gum tree. www.corimatusow.com.