Heather Romero-Kornblum

Go Fish!

Louise Glück wrote about the terribleness

Of being buried consciousness deep

Beneath the earth

And how she remembers 

What we call death

Ashes courtesy of Vesuvius 

Mushrooms courtesy of atom

Blackouts courtesy of graphite 

To bury more consciousness

Deep beneath the terribleness

I imagine whole cities 

Like bulbs

Encapsulated

Hands grasp for ropes

Reach above ground

Into bloom

Fish

I was resurrected – 

No myth

Long wire

reached into body

I swallowed the sinker

coiling in on myself

draped in seaweed

Unfurl from reeling

Blink against sunlight

Stagger forward

Weighted out of water

Bloop

Child named River

Who hated the water

I taught you to swim

Bubbles beat stones