Monday 26 November 2018


Slipping Into My True Self

by Joan Leotta


Sand dollars,
currency of mermaids,
call to me from
dead low tide where
my feet caress their outlines
in the shifting sand
until I can scoop them up,
set them on my windowsill
to watch them whiten
in the afternoon sun.
Once dried they are like porcelain,
delicate but firm
like a lover’s skin, cool against my own.
Surrounded by these totems,
even far from sea, sun, sand
far in time, in winter’s chill                                                                                                 
far in distance, landlocked still,
I slip into my true self by simply,
smoothly sliding my finger over their edges,
holding them, one by one,
like the waves that brought them,
cool, smooth against my cheek.


* * * * *

Joan Leotta, www.joanleotta.wordpress.com, is an author and story performer. Her books include Giulia Goes to War, Letters from Korea, A Bowl of Rice, Secrets of the Heart, historical fiction in Legacy of Honor Series, Simply a Smilea collection of short stories, and WHOOSH!—a picture book.


No comments:

Post a Comment