Man O’War
the creek is cold against my body, pulls like the pace
of summer days and nights, just enough to make me kick to keep up
The oceans this month are the hottest they’ve ever been
and my mother sends a picture of a Portuguese man o’war
washed up on a New York beach
yet our creek is flowing fast and cold
from the flood that came down last week like vengeance
and turned the mill falls downstream to a roaring maw
A mother died in this creek a few days ago, pitched over
the mill falls and into that whitewater
My neighbor tells his children if you’re overboard in rapids
look forward, go feet first, and steer with your hands
as best you can. Your strongest chance of survival
is if you can see what’s coming, and try to get through.
Even before the flood, his family knows
to keep your head – eyes, ears, mouth – out of the water
The cold is such a blessing on hot, hot days.
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Chiara Di Lello is a writer, artist, and educator. She loves coffee, art, and bees, and unequivocally supports the movement for Palestinian liberation. Her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.
