Below the Surface
Deep in the tangled forest
of my resentful heart
rebellious flames rage,
consume leaves and limbs,
bloody stumps of betrayals,
mine and yours.
I hack myself in half
to provide fuel.
Red flags rise, tremble,
burn down to gray coals.
In the embers I reclaim
what needs to be salvaged.
Come with me
down to enduring green depths
where fan corals sway and shimmer,
where sunbeams casts arrows
of light through water,
ignite secretive silver scales.
This is the entrance to harmony,
where the tide moves us
in and out of our unspoken walls.
Deep in the tangled forest
of my resentful heart
rebellious flames rage,
consume leaves and limbs,
bloody stumps of betrayals,
mine and yours.
I hack myself in half
to provide fuel.
Red flags rise, tremble,
burn down to gray coals.
In the embers I reclaim
what needs to be salvaged.
Come with me
down to enduring green depths
where fan corals sway and shimmer,
where sunbeams casts arrows
of light through water,
ignite secretive silver scales.
This is the entrance to harmony,
where the tide moves us
in and out of our unspoken walls.
Laura Bayless is the author of four collections of poetry. Her most recent is Chairs in the River published by FutureCycle Press in December 2017. Her poems have appeared in local and national publications, including Dancing on the Brink of the World, Selected Poems of Point Lobos, Porter Gulch Review, The Homestead Review, as well as the recent Second Wind anthology. She is co-editor of an award-winning compilation of stories and poems about the Carmel River – Passion for Place. She participated in eight Women’s Voices readings at the Carl Cherry Center in Carmel and multiple Women and Food art and poetry presentations on the Monterey Peninsula.