Upon her birth on land,
a siren enchanted a newborn human being.
Cheeks blue like the sea,
she would never take a full breath of air
for as long as she lives.
Among the waves,
her legs meld into a tail,
diving headfirst into friendly waters,
wishing gills could propel her
across low gravity oceans.
Is there an oxygen rich seaweed
she can eat to escape the merfolk?
Or shall she become accustomed to a different orbit,
seeking air bubbles like a fish out of water
while other children dance along the shoreline?
She wishes to see the stars,
yet the sirens keep her earthbound.
Unable to ascend on chemical rockets,
she creates a breathing apparatus to explore
the seven seas, charting a course to the stars
for future enchanted progeny.
She may never break the spell,
try as she might to capture the siren,
so she trains the next generations
for the challenges that await them on land,
for the chance to be half human, half siren:
differently abled with an adventurous spirit.
This work was previously published in Green Splotches 2022.
About the Author
Angela Acosta (she/her) is a bilingual Latina poet who holds a Ph.D. in Iberian Studies from The Ohio State University. She is a Rhysling finalist with speculative poems in Shoreline of Infinity, Apparition Lit, Radon Journal, and Space & Time. She is author of the Elgin nominated speculative poetry collection Summoning Space Travelers (Hiraeth Publishing, 2022) and forthcoming chapbook Fourth Generation Chicana Unicorn (Dancing Girl Press, 2023). 
