Sea Inside

Sea Inside

inspired by the painting Good Neighbors by Laurence L. Schultz

If you painted me into your picture
of the house that reminds me of the sea-
green stucco warm like gulf waters,
purple umbrella roof,
front porch orange as coral,
alien as coral and sponge
and phosphorescent fish darting.
If I climbed the tangerine steps-
three to the porch-
and walked inside,
you would paint me there in tropical hues.

A sea anemone-
my indigo hair, a fan,
my undulating yellow arms,
my rippling red legs.
I expel all air from my lungs
and settle to the sandy bottom,
to the cool deep, to the deep quiet, to the painted dark.
I settle into myself,
becoming small and dense and magnificent-
as still as anything in the sea.

Nicole Borg
Wabasha, MN
American Red Cross