Writing

Rub the callus

where the pencil rests

instead of the bare base

of your ring finger. 

When you aren’t feeling

 

so much like yourself, 

what is your relationship

to enough? The sea

 

that gives you sand, the foam

that gives you the spray

 

of algae floating toward river,

salt into a far off fresh?

            Will you let the conches rest

with their oracles gestating

 

or beg they scream

bloody murder? Evenings 

the pencil marks two 

dimensionality like a dog 

 

who sits and laps

at the edge of a mirage

 

called thirst. 

At night the foam builds

without shine. If you don’t 

 

bed a scientist, will you 

never hear that 

 

the existence of the surface is 

more important than what 

the surface contains

 

or your silence? 

 

If dreams weren’t fluid,

            they would answer 

to day. Instead 

they drown it.

 

Amy A. Whitcomb

Poetry and prose by Amy A. Whitcomb have recently appeared in Witness, Poet Lore, The Baltimore Review, Terrain.org, and other journals. She holds a Master of Science degree and a Master of Fine Arts degree, both from the University of Idaho. Her writing has been honored with a Pushcart Prize nomination and residencies with the Jentel Foundation, Playa, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park. You can meet Amy at www.amyawhitcomb.com/artist.