I lean over the boat’s stern and pour my heart out onto the soft-domed shell of a leatherback turtle who will carry my spongy, raw secrets into deep waters where they can hide. My night thefts of love, fingers scraping the near-empty honey pot of others, will remain in her silent care. An ancient-lined luth, she keeps the unlovable half-truths I tell myself intact even when she deep dives for sea grass; small comfort pulled up by the roots. When she does come up for air she must be quick; refill her tortoise lungs— one explosive exhale and rapid inhale— or else the lies she bares because I cannot might slide out of her reptilian reach. Then who will hold them? Karen Pierce Gonzalez First printed in Honey Guide Literary Journal

Am so pleased that #FourFeathersPress reprinted this in their #TurtleIslandPoetry collection. #poetry #PoetsOfBlueSky