How I Discovered Poetry

Kisha G. Tracy

The words I didn’t understand fell melodically from his tongue.

I was supposed to dive down into their depths,

then return to the surface clasping the bright gold,

their inner treasure.

But I fought against the clutching current.

I stayed too shallow, swam too far in the wrong direction.

I didn’t have the breath in my lungs to stay under.

So I came back with nothing,

Gasping for air and begging for the sand.

My father was a poet.