Leatherback Endangered

Leatherback Endangered

Crack up and out, shake
fragments of egg off the face.
use the largest shells as backbone,
as home. creep across dank, damp sands
to undulating ebb of rip current and flow along
swift Atlantic gulf stream. reptile devouring sea
urchins and jellyfish, swim expertly, gain strength.
witness an unquenchable ocean swallowing endless
blood-orange days. after lost years at sea, answer
compulsion to procreate. propel swiftly, migrate
to natal shores. emerge a neophyte, scraping
flippers across sand. excavate holes. lay
mounds billiard-sized eggs, precious
hatchlings, a banquet of beginnings
or predator’s feast. assemble
survivors, rinse off death
splatter and repeat.

Poachers,
black market
collector of eggs
for aphrodisiac or
poached for musky
aftertaste. fisheries by-
catch, tangled in gear
and ropes. captured
by floating debris.
eat plastic bags.
lose habitat.

Painting by Su Rogers showing many fish, two cows, a bee and the ocean.

we have bitten the lips of the divine by Su Rogers

About Kimberly Peterson

Kimberly Peterson’s experience as a nurse working with chronically ill and palliative patients informs the grief, loss, resilience, and joy of daily life she explores in the manuscript of poetry she's working on. Read more of her work at www.kimberlypeterson.ca

About Su Rogers

Su Rogers is a fine artist educated at NSCAD University in Halifax, NS, and a practicing artist for close to 40 years. She lives in Lunenburg, NS, and keeps a studio in her house. Fixated on the devastated state of the oceans and the fishermen and women who make their living from it, Su's work remains rooted in the fishing communities of South Shore Nova Scotia. She almost exclusively works with large format oils on canvas and draws on many different sources, including religious iconography, classical symbolism, and folk traditions.

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