Photography © Jennifer Matthews

 

Southshore Requiem

i have been drowning
as long as i can remember-

teaching myself to
swim up currents

don’t struggle.
they say it likes it when you fight back,

because a right hook has always
been louder than a cry for

help. swallowing salt
until it burns the blood

inside of you and
the waves wash up drowned bones- skin and mind

soon to follow (because
the sea takes its time with the stubborn ones)

the shore feels too soft, slips through
my fingers like a needle through skin;

a grave for my feet to sink into,
pulling me below the surface,

filling my throat with
the sands of not enough time,

not enough of a place to look forward to,
not enough of a memory to fall back on.

 

Samara Chahine is a current senior at Emerson College in Boston, MA, majoring in Theatre Performance, with minors in Sociology and Peace& Social Justice. Her concentration lies in using theatre arts and other similar platforms as a form of advocacy and therapy for disenfranchised communities. She has several works published in local and online journals, including Blue Jeans Journal and EmMag.

Poet/Photographer Jennifer Matthews’ poetry has been published in Nepal by Pen Himalaya and locally by the Wilderness Retreat Writers Organization, Midway Journal, The Somerville Times, Ibbetson Street Press and Boston Girl Guide. Jennifer was nominated for a poetry award by the Cambridge Arts Council for her book of Poetry Fairy Tales and Misdemeanors. Her songs have been released nationally and internationally and her photography has been used as covers for a number of Ibbetson Street Press poetry books and has been exhibited at The Middle East Restaurant, 1369 Coffeehouses, Sound Bites Restaurant in Somerville and McLean Hospital.