In sixth grade I had a dream that I was a selkie
I washed up on the rocks and fled from my seal skin, to dance -
on spindly legs like a new colt I was all awkward elegance
long wish bones shoving against my skin, pressing egg shell veins against my pale casing
When selkies fall in love with sailors the men have to hide their true love’s pelts to keep them from returning to their home in the sea
but in my dream I flung my tired skin away from myself
into the hungry water
I didn’t stop to watch it grow heavy and slither under the surface
instead my aching feet took me as far away from it as they could go
I felt the heaviness in my chest ease
as my abandoned body wandered towards the ocean floor
And then I woke up