Gaia

by Bridget Johnson

Gray clouds gather when her name has been invoked,
And the sky releases its claim on the sea.
I stand alone, letting my body become soaked

As my sight becomes cloaked
By the tears of the mother who created me.
Gray clouds gather when her name has been invoked,

And blinding light sings through my ears. I’ve choked
On the taste of her misery,
So, I stand alone, letting my body become soaked.

The sky’s fire crackles and thunders as the flames are stoked,
While our mother dreams and screams of what could be;
Gray clouds gather when her name has been revoked.

Waters rise, and I float closer to the sorrow provoked
By careless hands that break her down to fragmented realities.
I stand, searching for the pieces, as my body becomes soaked.

When I find her, however long it takes, stroked
And healed by my prayers and song, she will rise back to her feet.
Gray clouds will gather when we invoke her name.
I will stand with her, our bodies soaked all the same.

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Bridget Johnson is a senior English major at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, with minors in creative writing and American Sign Language. She is an intern editor for The Greensboro Review literary magazine, and works as a writing consultant for the university. She has a flash fiction in volume 128.1 of The Coraddi, a student-led magazine on campus.