Today's poem is Saltwater I. by Josie Ellis. It is read by Samaa Abdurraqib.
Saltwater I.
Veins:
my own city system
carrying something that feels like saltwater
through me.
One pump,
two,
three.
Breathe.
I am made of oceans:
In my thinking,
feeling,
speaking,
in my tidal chart days.
I am governed by something more than me.
Memories—
a young girl
admiring the blue;
carefully perched
on its edge.
I will wade now,
and swim in the depths.
I want to return to the thing
that fills me.