Zuggie Tate

First, you must chase the Ocean 
Goddess into the rowing 
waves during an episode 	
of lightning & thunder 	 		
Tread in tides under 						
a purpled sky	 Listen 
while the struggle pulls you neath 			
for the notes of aloneness now 		
whirlpooling in-
to your ears 
You must swallow your mother,
                       but not literally 		
              More in the way you gump tears   	or unspoken fear 
       & with this lump or bone	 now caught in your throat	 attempt song	     this is how you learn 
to breathe 	Believe that your legs aren’t legs & then they aren't legs 
Believe the crashing & crushing depths are your friends 	Creatures emerge
 speaking riddled words bubbling with welcome 		Flay		
the calloused skin ‘round your vocal chords 
Gills will begin to form		 but forget not  the thickness 		
It’ll become your armored scales 
Switchblades nestled in soft palette spout into fins 
 Flooding blood becoming cold with bold 
Sink

You’ve always been becoming a mermaid       The land of man is just as drowning but see 
sisters live here, webbed fingers spread wide in embrace 		There is no race or rush to be anything not worth waiting for 	When the harpoons come

& they will come  

Sing the siren's lullaby now netted in your throat	 	Draw them in
let them buoy belly up until the sin of conquest osmoses out 	The moon in the now-cleared sky ushering menfolk spirits up	All that remains are Jonahs whale-swallowed & spit back 		to sea-shanty the gospel of  this new being	 & you
 mermaid 	that 	you 	now	 are 	      will be free 
from ever having to tell this survival tale

  

Zuggie Tate (she/her) graduated from CWRU with a BA in Sociology. As a writer, she is an Afro-Brutalist, emotional historian, and griot/witness proclaiming her Black Trans Woman experience. Zuggie was published in the Black Midwest Anthology with forthcoming work in Shade Journal, Exposed Bone Lit Mag, and Verum Literary Press. She lives in Cleveland, OH.