Robin Leslie Jacobson

Descent

They say it never stops, that ancient pull
back from the hard dark swim toward day and mind,
that double spiral twining back to primal
ways. The reptile curled so still behind
your frontal lobe awakens at the slightest
scent or sound, slides from her bony lair
back to familiar waters. Leathered crest
and those unfathomable eyes, their glare,
are all that’s visible above the mud.
But that’s enough.
                                  Now look into that pool,
see teeth and blood and creatures swallowed
whole—from every angle, see the animal
in you. Or say it’s just bad dreams, or viral,
then deftly peel a fruit in one long spiral.

Robin Leslie Jacobson has taught for Poets & Writers and California Poets in the Schools. She has been widely published (Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Parabola, Poetry East, Poetry Flash, Runes)and honored (American Pen Women, Headlands Center for the Arts). Ruah magazine published her award-winning chapbook Eye Drops.

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