Pawatamihk (Dream)

• I walked to the water, swam out to where I could
• no longer feel the eyes of a red horizon. You see, the
• earth wanted to rinse me in its cool saliva, rub my
• skin until it was smooth like the pebbles that made
• a bed beneath my feet. Was I just dreaming? I had
• visions of your stillness on solid ground, heard you’d
• choked on plumes of contrition eager to escape your
• lungs and join the clouds. That’s when I knew it was
• time to get back to the land. But by then my flesh
• was softened like cooked meat, peeling off the bone.
• The whiteness of my skeleton, far too bright.
• A great hell hidden in pieces.

Photo by Sérgio Rola on Unsplash