Esther Vincent Xueming (b. 1987)
SELECTED POEMS
Whale Dream
I enter the sea in my dream and a great humpback
swims in the deep. Legend tells of a giant
whose fingers were cut by her father Anguta.
Sinking into the sea, they took whale form.
Are you the goddess Sedna, Mother
of the Deep? Whale of my dreams,
I have seen you glued together by plastic trash
outside a museum. I have heard your song
under a full moon calling me. A heartbeat,
drumming into my bones, then the deep tenor
of your underwater refrain echoing
into the chamber of my soul. Great mother,
I dive into the depths of your being.
Will you come speak with me?
by Esther Vincent Xueming
from Red Earth (2021)
