By Misti Velvet Rainwater
Date: 23 November 1998

mermaid

         love
      an angry sea
       has spewed me
     out on yet another
    lonely island beach
     where everything
      that matters
   is out 
    of reach
 and I am dying
  yet I beseech
  the Gods of Whatever
    to teach me
   another lesson
   and lessen my power

   I'm banged up and broken
      damaged goods
    I should hang a CLOSED sign
       on my heart
     part ways
  with the giddy girl
     inside me
  who does back flips
   for a four-letter lie
   I should burn the house down
       and find a cave

but I save
  seashells
and sing
 loving the mystery
of the water