mostly water Maeve
contains also the tingling urge to swim
eyes nose mouth ears smeared as anemones
across salt-lick skin a school of legs arms of paillettes
as a kid she floated on her back in the local pool lids pressed shut
for the sun’s hot prism of God’s eyes and Rorschach mushrooms
her boy a rigid T braced against Marco Polo roars reduced to orange spots
today Maeve wakes to find her island is invented
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.