Living with Seals

Heidi Joffe | Poetry

So I said show me
the sign, appear above
the meniscus of calm water,
just as the storm approaches
heavy-lidded sky above
us, and you pass by, not
leviathan, but merely ancient
head carved into these waves
the day now broken into two
the before and after, your wake
indistinguishable from tides,
and my hands clench the rails
as my day waits for your next breath.

Heidi Joffe (M.Ed. MFA) is a poet and multimedia artist who crafts with fiber, clay, and word. She writes essays and screenplays, but poetry is her sustenance. Her publication homes include Panoply, The Opiate, Sheila-Na-Gig, Gyroscope, Pine, Mountain Sand and Gravel, Thistle and Thread, Stillwater Review, and All the World’s A Page (Quillmaster Press). She received an MFA from Pacific University.