Ellen Kombiyil, Women in Distress, 1, 2024 (Artist Website)
Mixed media collage, color pencil, embroidery thread
Courtesy of the artist
at the bottom of the ocean,
but it was just a rock.
That’s the thing about hope.
It fills ships. It reaches
100 miles off the coast
of definitely here and plunges
into places without air or light.
It sinks. We bury it.
The day the story runs, I dig
up the bulbs. Lilies and glads.
It should be too late but I was away
and it was warm and that’s the thing
about hope. It can’t live here all the time.
So we clear the fallen leaves,
shake off the cold earth,
make a nest for it in newspaper
and cardboard. We wrap it up
in today and today and today and wait.
And if we’re lucky, come spring,
we’ll dig a place for it
and in our digging, we’ll find rocks
that look like wings.