Secrets lie in the ebb and flow…

by Lynda V. E. Crawford

of the ones who never considered packing their own relatives—not even their family’s outcasts, to send them on a journey in the belly of dank. Work them to the death. Lose their hands in the sugar mills. Such a journey across the expanse of ocean—a journey fraught with salt, could never have crossed their minds. The taking. The deading of cousins, sisters, brothers, of mothers, uncles as they slipped or were dumped overboard into unceasing waves—or perished in the guts of uncouth ships. Such a devastation would be beyond contemplation. The keepers of secrets who push laps along the shore told me so.

a constant to and fro
my ancestors
forever buoying me

a gentle ebb and flow
my ancestors
forever soothing me