Mermaid
Nancy Ellis Taylor
Internment with the devil waves
The wearing water never ceases
My hair has turned to kelp
Sometimes sullying your bright shore
Winters are the hardest always
Everyone is angry throwing shards
From bows of icebergs blowing wind
Making breakers churning rock to sand
Slick and salty in the summer surf
Algal my imaginings turning you over
To stroke your pale belly
Teasing away your will to walk
Wanting with the tides tangling
Back surging forward moon eyed
Ride among the sea shells crushed
Calling love or lust
You will remember the empty bay
Flat and waiting for the storm