“
Salt Marsh Goddess by Michelle Joers
"You may need
a super-human
super-hero
super-natural god/dess,
hammer or harp in hand,
horse-bodied or jackal-headed,
Lady of the Lake or Lord of the Seas.*
But I have the deep, deep ocean
and strong winds driving waves upon the shore
driving me to my knees for absolution
driving me to oblivion;
I have a sun that warms tender shoots,
crooning them from the loamy body of a Living Earth;
The caress of the Willow branch as I lie beneath her roots,
book in hand, and squirmy child in lap.
The Salt Marsh Goddess speaks to me in ringing tones,
as clear as any god of myth does for you
& she speaks in a thousand tongues—
Spartina, Juniperus, Myrica, Sesarma,
Uca, Littorina, Malaclemys, Ardea, Alligator
…just to name a few.
I have prayed at her temple as the tide pours into my boots
And divined my future with her bones
I have bled for her | I have tasted her flesh
And drank of her blood | And given her mine
While you argue
over how to resurrect
gods of long passed cultures,
I’ll be the one covered in mud and dancing with the rushes,
celebrating a goddess born of glaciers.
”
”