Selachimorpha Selkie

by Cislyn Smith

I know a great white girl
and she’s happy on land
shed her skin and stashed it safe
and went for blood in the banking world
but you know
she never stops moving
some things never change
under the waves or on land
that’s not me
I like the still waters
the silt
the light filtered down sparkling and soft
through mangrove roots
and I like you
it’s true
and I’ll give you a tooth 
or two
I can spare a few
but 
I’m not staying
it’s too bright
dry land makes me itchy
and I am tired of the way 
things unexpectedly bite 
mosquitos
and overdraft charges
and too-long pauses between texts
listen though 
you figure out how to shed your skin
the way I did for you
and maybe
just maybe
we can work something out

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© Copyright Cislyn Smith

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Cislyn Smith (she/her) likes playing pretend, playing games, and playing with words. She calls Madison, Wisconsin her home. She has been known to crochet tentacles, write stories at odd hours, and study stone dead languages. She is occasionally dismayed by the lack of secret passages in her house. Her poems and stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Diabolical Plots, and Daily Science Fiction, among other places. She is a first reader for Uncanny Magazine and Giganotosaurus, a graduate of the Viable Paradise Workshop, and one of the founding members of the Dream Foundry. Twitter: @Cislyn