By Kerry J Heckman
for when you are on ruby beach and forget who you are
as the tide builds
the ocean gathers
driftwood in its arms
and carries it out to sea
waves
follow the tides
follow the moon
in garnet sand—a speck of truth:
you don’t respond to waves
because they break
on sea stacks
you respond because you also
follow the tides
follow the moon
and though you may feel very alone in there—
across abyssal channels
you are connected to every being
in this world beyond this world
foam born out of spindrift
into tidepools
yet still you take a knife
to the anchor line
and row out to abbey island
to get yourself lost
at tide fall
as the ocean hands the driftwood
back to shore
make your way
across the sand bridge
pick up a shell and hold it to your ear—
from the hollow
hear it whisper i know you
and remember
OUT OF THE BLUE
this morning i saw a hummingbird
and it flew away before anyone else saw it—
is that what it’s like to be kissed by the cosmos?
love only exists in places you are willing to look
love only comes in forms you are willing to accept
sun rays filtered through cedar branches
become giant arms reaching out to protect you
mountain stairs in softening gradients of blue
appear out of nowhere to carry you up to the evening star
a cold stream on a hot day moves over the lumps
of your body with the sweetness of hands
the message materializes in my mind
but originates from the center of the earth
let the world see the beauty through your eyes
TRANSFORMATION
my intuition called me
to the pacific northwest
perhaps it saw in me
a loose end in the tightly bound
ache of my ancestors
here i met a woman
on a mountain in Canada
and i sensed she knew a path
to awaken what is true in all of us
i followed her to the shores
of the Salish Sea
where i met other loose ends
searching for ways to soften the grip
of fear and sorrow in the world
we entered the cocoon together
and imperfectly moved
in the same skin
elbows of our desire to free ourselves
knees of our desire to liberate others
we noticed pain bubbling up
and slowed it down
at the same time
the world around us
was moving in a parallel process
we embodied the world
and the world embodied us
now we are emerging
and will take flight
in all directions
only to realize
we were never separate
but one interconnected
burst of energy that will
reverberate from our wings
to the wings of others
to the wings of the world
held up by the same gust of wind
until we find another
soft place to land
Kerry J Heckman is a psychotherapist and writer based in Seattle, Washington. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at the Rainier Writing Workshop at Pacific Lutheran University where she serves as the assistant editor and a contributing writer for the program’s journal, Soundings. Her work has appeared in Sonic Boom, Whiptail, and The Heron’s Nest, among other publications. Website: Kerry J Heckman Instagram: @kerryjwriter