[Poetry] Two Poems by Breanna Ho

INTO HER MOUTH

How swift death were but a breath

into the next, her undulating embrace

awash over me, oblivious to the Siren’s

call luring me torrid, drunk in

her song, unmoored by her rapture.

She pulverizes me.

DIASPORIC

Oceans run currents in my blood—

my cells housing diasporic tales

of dragon ladies and lotus blossoms,

of hair grown long to protect

against restless spirits, a warrior’s

strength in her thick raven shield

drawn from centuries of wind

blown stories whispered beneath

veiled ears, carried downstream until

they reach the sea, crossing uncharted waters,

folding into hands of grandmothers

holding hands of granddaughters whose

stories are kept in the strands of hair

that we braid with our fingers.

Breanna Ho is a writer based out of amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton, Canada), born and raised on the prairies with the sea running through her veins. She is the author of the chapbook Uncharted (Anstruther Press, 2022). Her poetry has appeared in Vallum and Plenitude Magazine.