Waking Up from a Deep Sleep

In a video online, a group of people saves a beached orca by dumping buckets of water on it until the tide comes back in.

I sleep underwater,
wake up empty-lunged,
breath stolen by
night’s urgency.

I think of the orca who
leapt from ocean’s embrace
and crashed onto the rocks.
The shock of land rising up to
meet her. How
air would feel like lack.

She cries out as the tide
rises around her, salt water
rushing in to reunite her with,
un-rend her from the dark.

I stand at my kitchen sink
gulping down tap water,
acclimating.

All this time spent
breathing air
and I still can’t adjust.

Emily Kramer is a poet based in Orlando with her master's degree in English from Ohio University. Her work has previously appeared in Split Rock Review. In 2015, she received the Staff Sergeant Robert J. Miller Award for her poem, "Hiding Places." She lives happily with her husband and two cats and enjoys video games, sushi, and having weird dreams.