Clap When You Land

by Elizabeth Acevedo

I am swallowed by this shark-toothed truth.

There is something about your body displacing water in order to propel through space that makes you feel Godtouched. That makes me understand evolution, that we really must have crawled up from the sea.

If you are not from an island, you cannot understand what it means to be of water: to learn to curve around the bend, to learn to rise with rain, to learn to quench an outside thirst while all the while you grow shallow until there is not one drop left for you.

The patron saint of the ocean is known for containing many parts of herself: she is a nurturer, but she is also a ferocious defender. & so I remember that to walk this world you must be kind but also fierce.

How bittersweet a realized dream can be flavored.