Kimberly L. Becker


The Opposite of Ichthus

We are not a profile of defiling religion
We are not a symbol
We are real
We have been here a long time,
longer than the men with machines
and picks and loud discourse
that we feel underwater
as echo of an ill intent
We decide to keep swimming
We don’t want to be trapped
Some of us will offer ourselves to those
who need sustenance
Someone has to be willing to sacrifice
We feel the displacement
of water against our gills
We do not want to be caught
and separated from our school
in this lie
in this lake
in this lie of a lake
So we keep swimming
We let the river carry us
We shine silver and pewter
We keep swimming
We keep shining

Of mixed descent, including Cherokee, Kimberly L. Becker is author of five poetry collections: Words Facing East and The Dividings (WordTech Editions), The Bed Book and Bringing Back the Fire (Spuyten Duyvil), and Flight (MadHat Press). Her poems appear widely in journals and anthologies, including Indigenous Message on Water; Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence; and Tending the Fire: Native Voices and Portraits. She has an essay forthcoming in Unpapered, edited by Diane Glancy and Linda Rodriguez (University of Nebraska Press). She has received grants from Maryland, New Jersey, and North Carolina, and has been awarded residencies at Hambidge, Weymouth, and Wildacres. She has served as mentor for PEN America's Prison Writing and AWP's Writer to Writer programs. She currently lives in North Dakota, but calls the mountains of North Carolina home. www.kimberlylbecker.com

ISSN 2472-338X
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