After Ada Limon “How to Triumph like a Girl”
I like popweed the best,
how it makes the beaches look alive,
like scattering the weight of yourself
across a landscape under clouds and blue sky
is alive as one can get.
I like the glint of ocean washed popweed
after the tide has lowered.
It pops between my bare toes!
But most of all, I like the scent—
It’s as if the smell of seaweed unravels time
and the ocean is a part of me,
and somewhere inside of me
a big red lion-main jellyfish pumps life,
and a purple seastar is growing another leg,
and there are barnacles’ feathery legs
swaying through my salinity.
Don’t you want to imagine me like this?
Don’t you want my skin to be translucent,
to see through my aquarium body,
this aquatic planet self,
that believes in lucidity
that despite its slight self,
it’s significant like plankton,
vital to all life as we know it.
—
Vivian Faith Prescott was born and raised on the island of Kaachx̱ana.áakʼw, Wrangell, Alaska, in the Alexander Archipelago. She lives and writes in Lingít Aaní at Mickey’s Fishcamp. She’s a member of the Pacific Sámi Searvi and founding member of Community Roots, the first LGBTQIA group on the island. She currently mentors writers through two Alaskan writers’ groups: Blue Canoe Writers and the Drumlin Poets. She’s the author of books of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a foodoir.
