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February 25, 2014 Poetry

Not Quite

Michelle Donahue

Not Quite photo



I am so many places
              lonely. I think
I savor it, just me & Canada
boundary water speaking.

The water is not deep here
              but tannin colored,
cold, spray tan orange like
all those fake tans from home.

My feet know when I’m
misplaced. Skin sheds off.
              I pick & peel long strips
until I reach blood beneath.

I’ve settled ten hours south
              in flat land, dry
corn & barren, a sad two
days drive from home.

I grew up in desert, a stone throw
from Pacific ocean. My body
              yearns salt water,
the buoyancy & spitting waves.

Here I peel clothes off –
goose bump-cold. From dock I dip
head beneath, swim
not quite home but reaching.

 

image: Andromeda Veach


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