the walls are aqueous tonight
half-light a brew of medusa shadows hours mulling the story
once read of a girl who wakes after six months of rain and deserts
her island home again Maeve sees her marching on the clay road
of mangroves past mangoes and breadfruit past the open market
of baskets and handmade stools chin angled towards the jetty
away from bay rum white gloves her people who pour sugar
in their juice the book now leagues removed once had a smell
of wet wool once in a trunk in Carthage once at a stranger’s church sale
once a wedge holding open a door
Tina Cane was born and raised in New York City. She is a poet, teacher and founder/director of Writers-in-the-Schools, RI. Her work has appeared in numerous journals including Barrow Street, Hanging Loose, The Literary Review and Spinning Jenny. She lives outside of Providence with her husband and their three children.