Clade Song 7

Georgia Low Country

deep tidal waterways
open attention under gazebo
eventually every horizon turns liquid

              tadpoles vibrate the shallows in this bend
                                                swash of blue on google maps
                                     calligrapher curves                    we hang off the gazebo edge

five raccoon swim chain: fairy white ears follow the leader to land

         eye practices: direct looking /
                                         peripheral seeing /        snowy egrets, glossy ibises
                                                                       infant eyes /              retinas sort light

swamp grass exposed in low tide photosynthesizes the sun in earnest

closed eyes / articulate the horizon inside
                              this marsh, salt corroded soil no longer crop-worthy
              channels run south to the sea                                      frantic reed rhythms
                         sky curvature arcs my chest       past the international dateline to
         tomorrow                 barge    churn & chug         marina warning sign: fast
                                                                                                 currents / swift alligators
                                                                      blue heron fans wings              ilium crests
                air             lung harbor            alveoli workhorses clear humid stick
             butterflies endocrine orange                          brocade to hormone secretion
                           alligators     back brain reptilian       mosquitoes         liver & lymph
                            ambition                                    sun & tide tempos the land: sandy
                                                        soil / shell bits / salt / palm roots / tabby ruins

             the water
    returns from errands                                jaunt with the moon     – pulled –
              cosmically to retreat                  join ocean        inhale as beach lips                     pull back
                  expose the gums:
                            cockles / barnacles / sea grass         beached horseshoe crab
                                                                              rinsed with the last wave swish

                              sponge capacity of coast to absorb the sea
                                                                                                             & release

Stephanie Heit is a poet, dancer, and teacher of somatic writing, Contemplative Dance Practice, and Kundalini Yoga. She lives with bipolar disorder and is a member of the Olimpias, an international disability performance collective. “Georgia Low Country” was informed by outdoor somatic engagements while in residency at The Thicket on Tolomato Island, Georgia. The Color She Gave Gravity (The Operating System 2017) is her debut poetry collection. Her work most recently appeared in Midwestern Gothic, Lime Hawk, About Place, Dunes Review, Typo, Disability Studies Quarterly, Streetnotes, Nerve Lantern, Queer Disability Anthology, Theatre Topics, and Research in Drama Education. She lives in Ypsilanti, Michigan where she co-creates Turtle Disco, a community arts space, with her partner and collaborator, Petra Kuppers. www.stephanieheitpoetry.wordpress.com