Rippling Skies
Floors of silken sand
brushed by manta wings
gape meters below
floating bodies.
Coral crawls jaggedly
for attention from untouchable
rays that fall through the waves
and tickle psychedelic scales
that swim without a passing glance.
Blue bobbles overhead
and rules with a raging hand,
breathing liquid air into all but the floating bodies.
They lock their lungs, release their grip on instinct,
and hang in this happy limbo
with the sand as the earth
and the ocean as the sky.
But You Don’t Look Sick
Exhaustion hunkers under
youthfully tight skin
and casts a heavy fog
over a growing brain.
Confused neurons drop
lucid thoughts to avoid
a migraine pile up.
Functional hands need
a wavy keyboard
to type coherently
and straight legs require
a cane to walk correctly
despite heavy medication
taken twice daily
they still tell me,
“But you don’t look sick.”
Biographical Note: Ariane Campbell is a sophomore Honors student at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Her work has been previously published in her university’s online magazine, The Sailfish Review. Outside of her studies, she finds every excuse to bake, climb, and write novels for young adults.