The Deluge

by Kathleen Ellis

When the water rose up
there was wind, darkness, rage.

When the lightning struck
the animals became restless,
primitive again.

When the beginning was the end
I cheered up for a few days, laughter
spreading among the tortoises.

When the day arrived to disembark
I became one of them, unsteady,
as if the earth were moving.

In the ark, you were holding back
and practicing your land legs.

I mistook this as my own story,
The disturbance that water makes
within water.

That collapsing levee, breaking
loose history, inundating
who we are, the water that we are.