Interior with Meg
Illumination
I’ve dreamed her dead
and seen her alive, rising
out of the blue ocean—
Goddess, Joan of Arc, Aphrodite
fishing she-bear, mother to all,
maternal marauder, foraging
through forests and lakes
the original Eve lighting the way—
each siting a projection
of the wild, naked skin
I wash in my dreams.
A huge fish dangling
over her shoulder, she pushes
her mask atop her head—
as she urges me to speak
the real name of god
who is and will be
woman, teeming
with the power to create,
certain of her bloody clay.
Each time I look toward her
through a long beam
that lights up the sky,
I see the sinewy limbs of an Amazon
veiled in translucent naked skin—
each time
she becomes my secret ache
and this time I understand
every man’s mystic craving
as the moon reaches out
illuminating
water
wet skin
fish
woman.
Linda Neal wrote her first poems in high school. She’s always been fascinated with words and the feelings they generate, which led her to study literature at Pomona College, earn a degree in linguistics and a master’s degree in clinical psychology. Her life at the beach, passion for story and work as a therapist create a richness of expression in her poetry. Dodge & Burn (Bambaz Press), her poetry memoir, came out in 2014.
