Margo Berdeshevsky: Here Is My Body

Invisible, on our lake, our dreamscape, the old blue heron lands. Beak of my hunger. Beak of her hunger. Beak of her mothering. Mother-me, I say. I’m her body of surrender, waiting. I’m her body of hunger, waiting. Her body of danger, waiting under the five million star-fall night. Mother, I cry, you promised kinder dreams. You promised sleep. Be kind, you said, before you surrendered. Before you climbed the star-fall. This night won’t last, you said. I’m the heron, I’m the lake at peace, our vine leads to you, you said. Your body of surrender, waiting, I whisper . . . the blue heron will feed us. Blue dawn will delete us. Peace. Our bodies will sleep. Our danger will sleep. I will love you, you said. That was my promise, before. Our lake waits. Don’t cry, I said. Here is my body, I said. Sleep. The hungry beaks will feed. Even sparrows…winged ones…our old promise is kept, this night. This dangerous, last, mothering-us night.  

Copyright 2024 Margo Berdeshevsky

Margo Berdeshevsky, born in New York City, lives and writes in Paris. Her most recent  collection is Kneel Said the Night (a hybrid book in half-notes) from Sundress Publications.