Читать книгу Vessel - Parneshia Jones - Страница 11

NAIAD

A philosopher asked, If you could have one super power what would it be?

When I was a little girl,

I spoke indigo—

birthed with gills passed

down from sea women.

I spoke indigo in my dreams.

My laughs and grandmother’s

sweet water lullabies conjured waves.

I spoke indigo in my prayers,

praying for family and fins,

hoping my knobby brown knees

would morph into sienna scales

with fins of fuchsia.

I spoke indigo to my kin.

My grandmother’s oceanic tongue

whispered in my seashell ears

our saltwater stories.

I wish for those little girl

sea lungs, pink as petals

blooming in rain.

I wish for the little girl

who dreamed in aquamarine,

the taste of a saltwater speech,

the nautical native tongue

speaking the language of the sea.