Mark Ippolito
River Me Home
Title Source: Jill McCabe Johnson’s poem “Bedded In Wet Rock Like Any Other Roe”

–

Getting drunk on

the brine of the ocean

Toughens my scales

I slice through the sea

Sweet smell of the river

still has a pull on me

Something so strong…

–

Orcas and eagles

Around every corner

Battered and bruised,

I’m tattered and torn

Calm in the shallows,

I’m not staying long

Something so strong

Something so strong…

–

River me home

I need the fresh waters

River me home

I sing my song

Keeping my promise

Been away too long

Something so strong

Something so strong

Something so strong

–

Journey complete

I rest in the grasses

Bones washed clean

but I’m not gone

Forever I live in trees,

roots and branches

Something so strong…

Something so strong…

–

River me home

I need the fresh waters

River me home

I sing my song

Keeping my promise

Back where I belong

Something so strong

Something so strong

Something so strong

–

Alexis
Croquettes (Safe Place)

–

Some days I’m swimming upstream,

The push to thrive gives me the drive towards what I need.

–

You used to be out of reach,

Unless incased in tin, bones in, but Mom still made you a feast.

–

From canned to fresh has been a grace,

I still remember the days when it wasn’t the case.

So far I’ve come, so much I’ve faced,

I’ve finally made it to a sense of a safe place.

–

Maybe I’m over my head.

I’ve moved my feet to lands where your diamond mines line beds.

–

I wouldn’t call it easy.

But each day I smile and feel I’m learning to be free.

–

I’ve finally found more of my kind.

A truly precious school of friends is hard to find.

So far I’ve come, so much I’ve faced,

I’ve finally made it to a sense of a safe place.

–

Why do you visit the sea? What makes you return? You spend your whole life on that dream.

–

You know, I think it’s lovely. Maybe, one day in another life, I’ll try it for me.

–

For in this life you’ve made me strong,

You were my favorite when days had gone so wrong.

So far I’ve come, so much I’ve faced.

I’ve finally made it to a sense of a safe place.

–

I’ve finally made it to a sense of a safe place.

–

I’ve finally made it to a sense of a safe place.