Response to “Where will the coast be?”
Jenny Mae Albinio

”Are you standing
on the coastline, or
are you swimming in
the deep waters?”
I will stand and see,
etched clearly in my
memory, the devastations
we’re doing with the sea.
The shimmering waves,
no more. Salty tears
licking the shore.
“Are you standing
on the coastline, or
are you swimming in
the deep waters?”
I will swim its cold,
murky depths, harnessing
the whale’s quiet strength.
Half of me, coursing through
my veins, is water.
Poseidon’s lost and
grieving daughter.
“Are you standing
on the coastline, or
are you swimming in
the deep waters?”
Diving and navigating
blind in a liquid bleeding
black, come tempest and
squall, there’s no turning
back. The only guiding light
is the pearl I hold tightly
in my fist, softly glowing,
safely guiding me home,
pristine and bright.