No Ocean Spit Me Out
Gabby Gilliam
You were born in a burst of sea foam , a pearl rising from sand salt-kissed and beautiful .
I was born in upstate New York — no further North than that — snow-kissed fingers and toes never able to get warm .
Your father wielded lightning his fury immortal .
My father wielded weed-whackers and grill tongs — his anger dull sparks that failed to ignite his love enduring beyond the limits of his mortality .
Did Zeus ever tuck you in ? Ignore the flashlight clutched beneath your sheets so you could read a er lights out ?
Did he sing old gospel songs into the darkness while your eyelids grew heavy ?
Or did he only turn maidens into cows ?