black tar
turtle soup
returned
glimmering
green eyes
pale blue skin
yellow etched
coal black
concentric diamonds
emerge from
salt marsh
grasses
salty eyes
feast on escargot
return
to land
soft sands
gestate
oblong thumb-sized
soft pink eggs
finger deep holes
erupt
hatchlings and
estuary mix
salty brine
terrapin
soup du jour
Chesapeake
—
Leah Graham is an environmental educator and artist. She earned a Master of Science in Environmental Studies from Ohio University, researching nesting ecology of diamondback terrapins; a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Biology from Mount Union College; and a graduate certificate in Scientific Illustration from the University of Washington. She has served Kent State University’s Office of Sustainability since 2013, currently as Sustainability Coordinator. With her husband and children, she lives near the Cuyahoga River.
