Owned

I may never own

rolling green pastures.

I yearn to roam

feel the stretch and pull

of leg muscles. Can I own

the sea? Stretch my arms wide

encircle all of the blue

I can see. My heart

and imagination enlarge themselves

and I twin my breath

with the sea’s —

inhale        it washes over my bare feet

owning them

exhale       sucks sand from beneath them

taking.

I have nothing

but the endless beating blue

heart of me

torn

because I can’t stand here forever

caught in limbo

like a partially birthed foal.

Sharmon Gazaway is a 2022 Dwarf Stars Award finalist. Her work is forthcoming in New Myths' Best Of Anthology, The Cosmic Muse, and in MetaStellar's Best Of Year Two anthology. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Forge Literary Magazine, Welter, Solarpunk Magazine, The Society of Classical Poetry Journal IX, The Fairy Tale Magazine (and upcoming Best Of anthology), and elsewhere. Her work is published by Black Spot Books, Air and Nothingness Press, Brigids Gate Press, and others. Sharmon writes from the Deep South of the US where she lives beside a historic cemetery haunted by the wild cries of pileated woodpeckers. Instagram @sharmongazaway.