previous part: https://jordynsaelor.com/2026/01/22/place-where-the-demons-go/
all parts here: https://jordynsaelor.com/cant-catch-me-now/
***
deliverer
sea deity
it knew everything there was to know
about the moon,
every moon
on every world
with a lake below it,
a storm,
a stream
or ocean
clean
every raindrop
retained
a memory of deity
from some time
some place
some hypnotic waterfall
roaring
for a photograph in the future
to freeze it
still as calm beauty
a lie
a reflection
some mirror puddle
broken by a toddler’s toes
some upwelling
from the dark
where an algae bloom
devours all oxygen from the seas
and suffocates the cloud jellies
some
murky
ravine
hungry for a winnowing tide
to eat at its sour edges
old hurts
sharp as urchins
slipping through the currents
deliverer
sea deity
seize deep knees
of a sunk skeleton
this eternal swell
still ascending
flooding
higher heavens
I knew your ancestors
the raindrops say to me,
splashing the tips of my ears
and cheekbones,
almost like an echo
of scales where skin still grows
I knew their migration patterns
through my waters
and the witch.
And the witch
who made them what she wanted–
legends tell
a lot of untruths
about gods
and whirlpools
when the honest event
was just a witch
with some spells
who transformed
fish
into people
I didn’t mind her
the raindrops say
and I’m breathing
the spaces between liquid
but it’s not air, not dust,
it’s the pull of a planet
an orbit
a star
seven moons
slicing rings of debris
I didn’t mind what she made you
I’m floating up through the mountain of rain
and my clothes are soaked,
not with water,
but with my skin
like I’m melting
but I’m furious she made you forget
you could return to me
if you asked
my arms and legs
spread like fans
or demon wings
would you like to return to me?
I could send you home
to
darkness
sink
storms frothing
waves gaping to swallow
hollow call
blood in the water
salt
silence in
mouth unhinging
all around I see myself
silver likenesses
our fins flick in unison
above us the golden glowering disc in the sky
asks us all to fly
and choke ourselves
before ever reaching his craters
while
the green half crown
beckons us there instead
and the flaming star
wants to eat us
memories of deity
I’ve belonged here
in the liquid
my bones heavy
eardrums thick with a murky percussive beat
alive
in molten motion
I knew your ancestors
but
you don’t know me,
you rain,
I wasn’t born underwater
you want only a piece of me
just like everybody else,
if I let you and them
take what they want
I’d give you my ancestor’s sea parts
and give Percy my truth parts
and give demons my dependence
and give magic all hours of my night
and offer my mother my body
and give the stories in the library my mind
but my pieces are mine to keep
vicious sea
I am going upward,
toward some light;
thank you for showing me this history
this deity
this better place than where I was raised
but this
still is not my home.
***
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Jordyn Saelor 