She was born soft and green, a spot
on the ocean. The night sky bore down
with ten million stars, and each wave wove
her muddy joints tighter.
It seemed like whole aeons, the thick ice
and the flames, the soles
of her feet hard
and cracked from the strain.
Her gaze floated away. Below the stone of her heart
a glacier keened, tore and lost itself
to the sea.
photograph by Timothy Erickson
