She Hopes She Is/She Prays She's Not

She Hopes She Is/

She Prays She's Not

She hopes she is;

she prays she's not.

She makes coffee,

drains the pot.

Feels sick. A sign. A sign?

She recalls the lip-biting grin,

the double nod;

imagines them quickened

to a piscean reality.

She turns her mind, willfully,

and still it returns, returns

to that dark pool.

She sleeps and hears waves.

She works and hears little whale calls.

She is a gate.

She is a cove.

She is dumb as a sea cave;

waiting to be startled

by the life within

or the blood emerging.