12/10/2020 POETRY: QURAT DARLOVELETTERS TO THE DEEP My eyes & conscience are clear. I filled my backpack with rocks & loveletters to the deep & swung it into the lake. I grew up with hardened shoreline instead of sand between my toes. Myths become less plausible every day. Mermaids pulling twist ties from their gills & kraken choking on plastic bags mistaken for squid, limbs shredded by propellers. Oil slicked wings hold no air, no matter the skies they fold into themselves. Rivers choked with plastic like my father’s arteries, dredged from the bones of sleeping giants, cling wraps the voice to my throat for a species that worships gods of convenience. I sunk a knife into a tree trunk & it bled. I tore open my calf on a rusted nail & tried to stop the sap leaking through my fingers. I raised a rifle to my shoulder, shot the expectant moon & felt the spray on my cheek. Felt the sky recoil. I set fire to the sea & built palaces of salt. Our futures have gone from picket fences to picket lines. Youth is its own burden. I explain to an old white man why having children would feel immoral, & he suggests I trust that they will fix this, as if that was not what his generation already did. Blind faith in false gods, hope an offering left at their shrines. Myths become less plausible every day. My eyes & conscience are clear. Qurat Dar (she/they) is a spoken word performer, poet, multi-genre writer, and environmental engineering student. She has had work in Augur Magazine, The Temz Review, and Anathema Magazine, among others. Qurat was a 2019 recipient of the Ron Lenyk Inspiring Youth Arts Award and is a Best of the Net finalist. She was also recently crowned the 2020 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam (CIPS) National Champion. Their debut poetry chapbook is forthcoming with Coven Editions.
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