self-portrait as rip current

the body the body the mind
                        and then the body
lord save us from these fisher 
                                                            men
who plant their hooks into our          bodies
i want to know how long 
                       your body
can hold        its breath
                        inside                          its body
                        my body                      wants
to earn its keep i slit
my scars and call them gills              i turn
a wound into a mouth                        i turn
a man              into a                           beast
i turn               a love                          into a
                                                            loss
i hear that salt can heal
                        the skin                       can flush
                        the heart can strip                             
the tongue
                        i hear that fear
                        can save                      your life                                 
in school i learned the verb               
                         become
forms such irregular   
                         con-                             jugations
the trouble with survival is
it comes with certain             
                        obligations

 
Maria Zoccola

Maria Zoccola is a queer Southern writer with deep roots in the Mississippi Delta. She has writing degrees from Emory University and Falmouth University. Her work has previously appeared or is forthcoming in Ploughshares, The Iowa Review, The Cincinnati Review, The Massachusetts Review, and elsewhere.

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Propinquity