by Emily Fox
(after Barbara Kingsolver)
Walk down to the beach
under a full moon.
Take off your shoes,
let the sand shift between your toes
like high tide lapping the land.
Resist the urge
to glance around
at the gnarl of mangroves
at your back;
allow your eyes to soften
over the water.
Sieve through
the noise
of bird calls and crickets
and the wind combing through leaves
like a mother’s hand at your hair.
Take the tense
from your muscles,
the clench
from your jaw,
let the salt air tunnel its way to your lungs.
Throw away notions of science and magic
and grown-up definitions you don’t need anymore.
Stand soft-boned and humble
before the wide ocean
and believe in
the glint
on that dark horizon.
© Copyright Emily Fox
Emily Fox writes from Queensland, Australia. When not writing, she works in a university library, reads submissions for Aurealis Magazine, and spends quality time with her dog. Her work has appeared in Lightspeed Magazine‘s Women Destroy Science Fiction! Find her on twitter @byemilyfox or at byemilyfox.com
Read the Rest of the December Issue
- The Rime of the Midwinter Mermaids by Kelly Jarvis
- What to Do After Receiving a Starlit Pearl by Mari Ness
- Mermaid’s Hook by Liz Argall
- Which Inland Waterways Merfolk Are You? by Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas and S.R. Mandel
- Mermaid Care by Jonathan Crowe
- Lotus Eater by Cameron Harvey
- The Catfish Sisters by Lisa M. Bradley
- The North American Wombats Guide to Random Sea Creatures: The Sea Hare by Ursula Vernon
- Merbraids by Amal El-Mohtar, Caitlyn Paxson and Jessica P. Wick
- Mermaid by Marla Faith
- Magdelena the Mermaid by Ana Merino, translation by Toshiya Kamei
- The Space Mermaid’s Garden by Beth Goder
- How to Spot A Mermaid by Emily Fox
- Deepwater Dance by Elaine Ho
- Into the Light by Elaine Ho
mermaids monthly 