By Jackleen Holton Hookway
wears knifepoint stilettos
that she fashioned
from the skin of water
moccasins that slide
underneath the dark slip
of brackish floodwater
when she takes them off
and wades in up to her neck
as the twin snakes slither ahead
guiding her through
a maze of underwater suburbs
where she shatters windows
frees entire families
from waterlogged houses
gathers dogs and cats
in a Hermès alligator bag
slung over one sculpted arm
as the reptiles slide onto her feet again
and she springs to the surface
a crowd gathering to bear witness
she steps ashore
the floodplain her runway
a mother and baby in tow
yes she’s come to float us
out of this misery
of biblical proportions
to deliver us to a new riverbank
the arms of our grateful children
our saved neighbors
encircling us
Jackleen Holton Hookway’s poems have appeared in American Literary Review, Bellingham Review, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, North American Review, Poet Lore, Rattle, Rise Up Review, and are forthcoming in the anthology Not My President: The Anthology of Dissent (Thoughtcrime Press).
Photo credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center via a Creative Commons license.
Stunning poem Jackleen.