Watching My Mother Die
By Sherri Levine
clutched throat
squeezed breath
arched back,
then headfirst
tumble,
tumble
face slammed
gouged brow
thrashed knees
ocean floor
swollen, engulfed, torn,
beached bones
bleached
picked shells
kelp entwined
blackened wings
wings blackened
entwined kelp
shells picked
bones beached
bleached
torn, engulfed, swollen
floor ocean
knees thrashed
slammed face
tumble
tumble
headfirst
back arched
breath squeezed
throat clutched
squeezed breath
arched back,
then headfirst
tumble,
tumble
face slammed
gouged brow
thrashed knees
ocean floor
swollen, engulfed, torn,
beached bones
bleached
picked shells
kelp entwined
blackened wings
wings blackened
entwined kelp
shells picked
bones beached
bleached
torn, engulfed, swollen
floor ocean
knees thrashed
slammed face
tumble
tumble
headfirst
back arched
breath squeezed
throat clutched
Sherri Levine is an artist and poet living in Portland, Oregon. Her poems have been published in CALYX, Poet Lore, The Timberline Review, and others. She won the Lois Cranston Memorial Poetry Award and also First Place in the Oregon Poetry Association biannual contest. Her book, In These Voices, was published last year.