Water on Water
“Researchers recently uncovered a startling phenomenon — a set of teardrop-shaped lakes in Antarctica that mysteriously move, jogging along at a pace as fast as 5 feet (1.5 meters) per day.” – livescience.com
The ice shelf fractures and thins,
as tear drop lakes that rest on it
slide and move five feet each day.
The thought of water on water
shifting so gracefully is intoxicating.
I want to feel
that motion brush over and caress
my hands — a feather-light tickle
on pale skin. No, a heavy weighted sheet tucking
me into bed at night. I want to lift water
in its liquid state, peer under it
like a child searching beneath blankets
for monsters. Terrified, excited. Awake. If I could
manipulate a fluid, I would work back-
wards to form a star, mixing winds
and waves. I’d create oceans in interstellar
clouds to swim in skies,
float through air. I’d know the whispers
of life and keep each of its secrets
like an old house that creaks
stories of its past. I need to feel Antarctica
beating and crying to feel alive,
to flow off the edge of the world
and dance in stark whiteness.
Melissa Adamo received her MFA in Creative Writing from Rutgers-Newark University in 2012. Her poems have previously appeared in Per Contra, Gingerbread House, Apple Valley Review, and Selfies in Ink. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in Plath Profiles, Salem Press’ Critical Insights series, Mezzo Cammin as well as Able Muse, and another review is forthcoming in Modern Language Studies. She currently teaches composition, literature, and creative writing at Rutgers and Ramapo College, and works as a writing tutor at Brookdale Community College.
