Martha Webster: First Breath

Photo: Joanna C. Valente

The Channel Islands Currents

Eliminating every thought

requires energy.

To plumb for fuels,

the volatile ether

halothanes.

Drilling down 

to purity. 

Elements explode

memory overhead.

But down here

benthic undulations

are hard to fathom.

Only the gurgle

and purge of breathing

in the cold, kelp sea.

First Breath

Beyond everything, I find

the catastrophic.

Climb down,

my heels in gravel,

past the falcons

and the rock dove

cliff.  A hissing

gorge, black basalt

turns oceans

inside out.

Petrels working the surf.

I know it is the end of days.

A day, a bruise,

slap of a palm.

And that:  I’ll need

never speak

in words, again.

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Martha Webster is a nurse living in LA. She moved from New York 3 years ago and is an avid hiker and whale-watcher. Previous publications include: Collagist, Cortland Review, Four Way Review, Glass, Laurel Review, Prairie Schooner, Seneca Review.