mother of salt

Written by Angela Du from New York City, USA

ocean—

keeper of the unwanteds

mother of salt

swallowed light

whole cities of coral bleached white—

brittle as ribs

current, i command you carry

bottle caps;

treat them as pearls.

somewhere beneath

the atlantic.

metal rusts

into the reef.

iron hits my tongue.

rain gathers

pulling itself inland.

the ocean keeps giving. & even now

salt in our blood

waves folding themselves.

endlessly giving

but we keep taking.