zodiac element: water

Water I

It had been an afternoon of sun rays
and thirsty skin
until the rain hit hard.
Her heart had been beating faster the last few days
and the thick drops falling on her mouth
as she let her head fall back seemed to calm her down.
He had been watching her,
standing there with her arms outstretched,
her hair
sticking in streams to her face
like dark honey
and her dress
clinging to her body
as she let it soak through.
He walked out under the pouring sky
to meet her skin.
His tongue traced
lost drops on her lips
as she opened her eyes
and blinked away the blur.
Oh, he knew her well.
He picked her up like a china doll,
carried her out of the wet,
waltzed her in the door of her apartment
and didn’t untangle his fist from her thick hair
until it had dried into
a tight
neat
curl.

Water II

She thought she heard the clouds break open
behind her
as she walked
a 2am stretch
back home.
But as she turned around to face the roll,
it was simply a cat
jumping out of a garbage bin
and her paws
pitter-pattered her
to her street
like raindrops
for company.

Water III

I like it here,
under your sea.
Floating on my back,
seaweed fingers tickling my spine
in your all enveloping love.
I am so weightless
and my skin welcomes the cool.
Above me the sky is loud.
Sunlight,
shining bright,
tries to break the surface.
Dancing all around me are fallen stars,
tired of the sky’s demands,
seeking refuge in this here wonderland.
Some of them
caress my skin on their way,
hide under my drifting body,
exhaling in relief.
The silence is a trusting soul,
a whale’s breath
embracing me with all its life.
Dear dark,
dear deep,
dear still and silent sea,
let me rest here a while longer,
until a fishing hook snears me
and pulls me back up to air.

Water IV

The lake just dried out one summer.
Water levels lowered and faded
until it was nothing more than a muddy pulp.
She watched them disintegrate all around her.
Her fellow fish friends.
Their scales grew thirstier than bones
and storms became storms of dust.
Some of them,
they flapped their fins
like birds
with broken wings.
It was painful to watch.
Some were clever
and grew limbs
and feet.
They walked out of the crater
in brave search of a new paradise.
Of a clear glacier fed pool
under a merciful sun.
She wiggled and dug herself in deeper
into the cool slug,
slowed down her breathing
and waited.
Pregnant clouds would surely find her in time,
or the earth would split beneath her
and she’d drop down to its depth
and slip into a wetness beyond.

Water V

A shower is a great place to cry
as is the rain
or the swimming pool up the road
or anywhere else
that caresses cheeks
mingles with your salt
and cries along with you too

Water VI

My dog grabs the leash behind the kitchen door before I can and it trails behind him in the wind as he flies out through the front garden while I check for keys in pockets and push fingers into mittens.
The sea breeze tickles my nose
and I sneeze
as I catch up with him.
By the time our legs hit the shore
we have exercised ourselves warm
and we exhale bigger
and bigger
clouds into the crisp air.
The beach is completely deserted
and my skin pulls over my face tight
and rosy cheeked
and almost hurts from smiling.
I take off my shoes and socks
and roll up denim hems to reach my knees.
The sky is wide open,
the sea angry
and wild
as we run together along the shoreline,
chasing waves up and down the sandy banks.
And I can hear her breathing,
the sea,
in
and out,
adrift
and her heart
is pounding
and as free
and screaming
as mine.