chained to the ceaseless
caress of the current—
I am tied down by rivers
from opposite ends;
existing in words which
were lost in translation—
my names had two givers
from opposite ends;
the coldness consumed
by my long-divorced motherlands
fills me with shivers
from opposite ends;
to encircle the earth with
the breath of an arrow
is to empty my quivers
from opposite ends;
like tissues I pulled away
half of my organs—
my heart & my liver
from opposite ends;
I inhabit the space between
movement & movement:
I dwell in those slivers
from opposite ends;
adrift in the water
with sunlight-bruised skin—
I am tied down by rivers
from opposite ends.