We became artists at the same time. We were tiny, timid critters hurtling towards the shore of representation I thought she might not make it – she was very small — and I feared the birds, falcons, eagles would grab her,. But she ducked, retracted her head and limbs (reptiles know how to hide). I ran in adult name only towards the water rebirth. Made it. We separated, reunited, separated again, swam in different directions. In our small round minds: the same stretch of beach where the hatchlings struggle to outlive the slow run to the wetness. She made a box, I made a poem about turtles. We saw about them on TV.
We held each other trembling in the goo that’s called survival.
(Copyright, Stephanie Barbe Hammer, 10/14/2012)
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Published by Stephanie Barbé Hammer
Stephanie Barbé Hammer is a magical realist prose fiction writer, novelist, occasional essayist, and a committed, intermittent poet, as well as a passionate instructor of writing. A 7-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize she has published work in Hayden's Ferry, Pearl, CRATE, Rhapsoidia, NYCBigCityLit, the East Jasmine Review, Apeiron, Inlandia, Literary Alchemy and the Bellevue Literary Review among other places. She is the author the fabulist novel THE PUPPET TURNERS OF NARROW INTERIOR (Urban Farmhouse Press), a novelette, RESCUE PLAN (Bamboo Dart Press), a prose poem chapbook collection, SEX WITH BUILDINGS (dancing girl press), and a poetry collection, HOW FORMAL (Spout Hill Press).
Stephanie's new novel PRETEND PLUMBER is available for order from your favorite bookstore, and her poetry chapbook CITY SLICKER appeared in July 2022. Stay tuned for her novella, JOURNEY TO MERVEILLEUX CITY, coming out in 2023!
View all posts by Stephanie Barbé Hammer