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Photo by Rachel Lynette French on Unsplash

Arrival is by Definition a Leaving

the blue light escapes night
morning cold cream drizzle
my face is on fire and the water is warm
come in to come be away

before the day starts is the hardest time
all those unsaid poems
to be without is to be within

separated steamy songs
rain on the window is a hum
the pain that comes with laughter
wood smoke tangled in the evergreens

Fish and Fisherman

each relationship
is another game
so much buoyancy
in my heart, a bobble
on the surface
what is taken
what could be given
lines are clear
but choke

animals on ends eating
how it brings them
up like grief, heavy
you dangle and I tug

we are wrestling for the same
hooks in time
we are bitter catches
broken holed and punchy
slippery sloped sounds
gone under darkness is
home

Penney Knightly is a survivor of sexual abuse; themes about that are 
often found in her work. Her poetry has appeared in Cleaver Magazine, 
Eunoia Review, The Bookends Review, and elsewhere. She lives with her 
family on a sailboat in the San Francisco Bay, where she writes and 
creates art. She tweets @penneyknightly and shares on her blog 
http://penneyknightly.com.