Some days my body tells me

I am in a boat on the sea

Sometimes the current is gentle

Lulling, the smooth sway of a baby

In it’s mothers arms

Sometimes the ocean is angry

A raging current that

Pulls me until I can’t tell

Where the horizon is

And my hands clutch the rails

Seeking steady footing.

And on days where the sea

Is a mass of jumping crashing waves

Of anger and fear

My body tells me I am the boat

And nothing inside me

Is properly anchored

And I feel the careening

Of everything in me

Slamming from side to side,

Crashing breaking tossing.

How I long to find calmer waters,

To chase them into port

So I may finally reach land

And find my body, my legs, my brain

Stolid and strong under me.