It’s disruptive; the constant eruptions
Of quaking earth and rising flame.
Shaking me from where I once
Stood my ground,
Destroying all the worthy around.

It burnt all away; nothing remains,
But the worthless remains of
All I had failed to build,
The lingering guilt,
And
The damning filth.

Maybe only the tallest ocean waves,
Can save what little is left.
Warm as an embrace and cleansing as a baptism –
Can sanctuary be found in their depths?

I tried so hard to ride it out,
The shock waves of shifting plates,
What reason is there to stay?
To play slave and chase the earthquake,
While ignoring its punishing force.

Better to dive deep –
Going under to get over:
Enough
To clean the slate.
Salvation in swimming away.
From brown to blue
From bruised to new

Jessie Gutierrez