Stillness, she taught me, was how not to shatter
but how to settle like silt, unseen beneath the tide,
an unwavering dive shaped to appease.
Praised for wearing kelp as skin,
I was pressed into the ocean floor
unchanging,
A girl folding breath into silence.
I watch those before me,
hushed waves that bent against
the Sea’s spine becoming sediment
forced to bow under the pressure.
Stillness, she taught me, was how not to shatter
but how hold a breath like a promise,
Mimicking the calmness of the surface
I, tidepool girl, must not ripple,
a lesson observed by women who spoke in hush, alone,
their stories drowned before they surfaced.
Shell mouth sealed tight,
my whispers echo as theirs did,
secrets held in salt-choked chambers,
hurricanes swirl, quiet and fierce,
my shipwrecked soul weighs heavy like rusted anchors,
dragging me deeper into a storm
pulsing but never daring to break.
Stillness, she taught me, was not how to shatter
but to embrace the echo like a conch shell:
repeat what’s been whispered,
silently un-disturbing the sea
each word hollow, softened,
until the spiral becomes someone else’s.
Bury my voice in the sand with drowned bones
of things I dare not name.
I stay moored as tides pull the shore away,
unable to escape this weathering hurricane.
Chest heavy my lungs seem to break,
but to be still one cannot breathe.
Stillness, she taught me, was not how to shatter
but to carry sea glass in salted tones,
blade softened, too dull to be strength
beautiful enough to still be treasure.
They showed me how to bury the riptide,
withstand the water with no end.
Sharp edges glinting yet never harm,
I become a sand dollar forced to lay in
boiling sea under frozen stillness.
Stillness, she taught me, was not how to shatter
But to take the shape of calmness, the safety of -
quiet hands, soft eyes, silent mist
smoothing the wave, before it broke,
to drift instead of stir,
never rise and brew only swallow the storm
before it called your name.
And I like many others
swallowed the silence,
drifting to where no wave dares to rise
until I, too became sea-bottom,
a girl pressed beneath the surface calm.
____
Comment