riptide by Rukman Ragas
30 lines
Issue 8, Summer 2025
to survive a riptide, lover, you must
give into it. submit to the writhing waves.
the harsh wind, whipping water into peaks,
will kiss skin, sea sinking teeth. don’t struggle.
sink back, relax. this too can be an embrace.
the mermaids and sirens, seals and sharks
they all wait beneath. if you breathe even
stay perfectly still, they will swim up, nip
your toes, run hands through hair. If
a finger snags, familiar, suppress your heart
this is a ritual of submission, an asserted victory
of the ocean and its denizens. the sea must take you,
if you wish to return. surrender to the current, bare
your throat. if the breath against your hair, smells
lovelorn, lover, drowned, you must not turn or speak
lie down on your back, let the waves wake you
if she cups your body with hers, with only water
between, not enough to forget the heat, her cruel
claws tenderly around your stomach, resist
the urge to look into her rotting eyes. or ask why.
p l e a s e
do not kiss your merbride, or taste salt flesh.
recall this witch and hazel, our prairie and dogs
the bargain we struck. gift me no grief, no memories
to hold against your absence. come back
you can cry, let the tide wane, the sea tire,
and the water bring you home. Alone
I wait, for your return, so don’t move or turn
task your tears against the sea. See
what is salinic, what is free.
