Body of Water
by Mary Ellen Talley
Mine keeps flowing into blood
flesh and sinew, pat-a-cake
palm of hand, firm handshake,
platelets I cherish clotting
to repair sites of my wounds.
Pump, churn heart river flow
all that channels inside me
wrapped up in crepey skin.
I call my backbone water
because I drink from its strength.
Mary Ellen Talley’s poems have most recently been published in Typoetic.us and Kaleidoscope as well as in recent anthologies, The Doll Collection, All We Can Hold poems of motherhood and Raising Lilly Ledbetter Women Poets Occupy the Workspace. Her poetry has received a Pushcart Nomination. She has worked for many years with words and children as a Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP) in Washington public schools.
The Drowning Gull 