Never Run Dry 

by Michelle Wiegers


When your poetry runs out, she said, let me know, and maybe
you’ll have time to come work for me. I stood in shock

at my friend’s suggestion, that these words might end, that I could return
to my old life, waters dammed up inside, ready to burst.

Like I could somehow stop the wind as it blows 
down the shoreline, crashing wave after wave into soft sand

pouring gently around my feet, now sinking down
into the earth, as another rush of salty water pools around me.
 
As if I could weaken Earth’s gravity, keep the cycle
of the moon from bringing the ocean in and drawing it back

out again, unwrite what has already been written,
going back to my past, as if I were still there.

Though at times it does feel like I'm losing ground, walking
carefully around piles of wet seaweed now baking in the heat,

the wide line of tiny broken shells scraping the bottoms
of my feet, as swooping gulls pick through bits

drying in the sun. Exposed and weary
of this constant wind on my skin, thundering in

my ears, the sun beating upon me—
I’m tempted to think this might not be worth it.

But I see the water gaining ground,
getting closer to this hard crusted sand

where I’m standing; packed grains keep my feet
from sinking, cracking around my shallow imprint.

The spray of the waves sweeps across my face,
sea air leaving a salty film on my glasses.

The ocean slides up next to me, spilling over
the tops of my feet, as once again I step

into the depths of the breaking
waves thundering through me.


* * * * *

Michelle Wiegers is a poet, writer and mind-body life coach based in Vermont. Her poems are inspired by her mind-body recovery from decades of chronic symptoms, the Vermont landscape and her own backyard. Her work has appeared in How to Love the World, The Path to Kindness, One Art, Birchsong and Third Wednesday, among others. In her coaching and teaching, she is a passionate advocate for helping chronic pain and fatigue sufferers. michellewiegers.com