Shall I Go Gently?
  
 I’ve always been indecisive
 and I’m still undecided
 but soon 
 I will have to choose
 whether to build my ship,
 and furnish it 
 comfortably 
 and sail with you 
 gently
 into the dark
 into oblivion
 gently
 or to rage and fight
 scratch and bite
 kick and scream
 so that you have to drag me
 to where I will not follow
 gently
 into oblivion
 into the darkness
 the inevitability
 of the end
 whichever way I choose.
  
    
 Mermaid
  
 It was the change in her hair she noticed first
 growing now like harsh thin weed
 but attached
 firmly
 attached
 and inedible.
 She tugged at it
 but the pain was too great 
 to separate it from her head.
 And then her scales
 began to disappear
 her beautiful shiny scales
 washed away with her gills.
 Her brothers and sisters
 and the rest of the school
 swam around her still
 but she couldn’t hear them,
 couldn’t understand 
 what they were saying.
 The art of communication
 had been lost
 washed away 
 with her gills.
 What was she now?
 Neither fish nor fowl.
 Fowl,
 where did that come from?
 She ran her fingers over her skin,
 still smooth
 unfeathered
 up to now.
 She waited
 waited to see what would emerge.
 Then the next wave came
 and carried her
 to the beach
 so she crawled along
 the sharp sand
 uncomfortably 
 on her swollen belly
 until she found a rock 
 and clambered up
 then slithered down
 algaed slime
 into a recess
 a safe cave
 a haven
 with a shallow pool
 left by the tide,
 a birthing pool
 she thought
 and she knew 
 that the next tide 
 would bring her sustenance
 while she waited to see
 what would emerge.
  
  
  
 First published in Oddball Magazine, March 2019


   

Lynn White lives in north Wales. Her work is influenced by issues of social justice and events, places and people she has known or imagined. She is especially interested in exploring the boundaries of dream, fantasy and reality and writes hoping to find an audience for her musings. She was shortlisted in the Theatre Cloud ‘War Poetry for Today’ competition and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and a Rhysling Award. Her poetry has appeared in many publications including: Apogee, Firewords, Capsule Stories, Light Journal and So It Goes. Find Lynn at: https://lynnwhitepoetry.blogspot.com and https://www.facebook.com/Lynn-White-Poetry-1603675983213077/