Mary, on Rock, by Pavlina Gatikova

Polaroid Transfer, by Alan Bean (USA). 1991.

Mary, on Rock
 
Your body, wrapped around
the rocks shaped into bird's foot,
with its claws facing forward
and guarded by water.
 
Behind, the dark current
that carries the ripples
of your worries away.
 
Your bent arms
frame your face,
yet you refuse to look
back at the world around you.
 
Your breasts seek the sky,
your legs together
but stretched out,
with toes as if slipping
into the stream.
 
Mary, rip the strip of time
and drift between
the banks of before and after.

Pavlina Gatikova

Pavlina Gatikova lives in southeastern Massachusetts with her husband. She is originally from the Czech Republic where she completed her Masters Degree in English and French as Foreign Languages. She has taught English to adult immigrants. Since 2007, she has been working as an ESL teacher in the public schools.