And the Water Wraps

"And the Water Wraps"
by Ellie Schoenfeld

"I tell the Lake my life,
the ups and downs
and slow undulations.
It always listens
always comes back for more
even when the story is old
and it has heard it before.
Even when it comes in waves
one image at a time
and I can't describe
why they are important.
The Lake doesn't ask questions
because its story
comes in waves too.

Swimming and the water wraps
around me, fills in
all the spaces that were me.
Each stroke glides out
a story and the Lake fills in
the hole I leave behind.

On the beach and the dunes
are a body full
of all those curves
I love to curl up into--
the part of the body
where ribs sink
into waves of hip, the crooks of arms.
I am nestled into the dunes
telling my life to the Lake
with sand in my teeth."