(2025) several short poems on having left Appalachia

 I miss the mists that felt inevitable 

Rolling down the slopes regreened 

Over the lifetime of my grandmother;

Her childhood was browner, 

Before the roots took hold again

Keeping the hills from eroding,

And leaving verdant canopies I grew beneath.

———————-

I gave up my skin willingly,

And followed you far from my shore;

While my skin (and heart) are yours, still,

Being so far from my waters has gutted me,

And I long to bathe in them again.

————————-

My heart hears my ancestors 

And tries to crawl from my chest

Towards the mountains and hollers

To hide.

—————

I want to bury my feet

In pebbles

Worn smooth and round

By eons of water

Rushing around them—

The same water flowing over them

And the same in my veins

———————

Even the willing selkie 

Will yearn for the sea

—————-