the mineral people
are keeping the time of the elders
underneath my feet
i continue my rushing practice
while they open up the cracks
and leave them full of wind
I am not sure about them yet.
Have they been here all along?
I've kept time with them in my many, many houses, for decades.
I've held them, given them as gifts.
I have even wept with them, right next to me.
But never spoken to them until now.
They tell me things, like
yes you really should feed your drum
we are a council of ancients
look how much you've remembered now
There is something soothing me
oh look a tiny chasm
There is a dark circle forming
Cecalia climbs down with me
There are caves of incomprehensible depth
so I will feel them instead
allowing them to strip
layer after layer of identity away
until I am
not
anything but rosemary on a drum
feeding myself scent-memories of what is now happening
Re-membering my grandmothers dancing
there is nothing to do Sarah-Lu
There Is Nothing TO DO Sarah-Lu
is the name of my new novel
the one that will tell me my new story
with its blank pages lack of ideas and dead sea calm
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