For Jesse Lewis (2006-2012),
a Sandy Hook Elementary student
Despite the sun pressing down, the boy rushes the shoreline,
throws dozens of stranded starfish back into the sea.
He wipes his brow, is questioned by the old man
about his actions, but strives to save as many
sea stars as he can before they dry out.
Rescued starfish land into the arms
of the ocean. Float on the water’s ebb
and flow. Each central disk an eye focused
on the sky. Skin spiny, briny, starfish sink to the seabed
where they crawl, feast on snails, microalgae, and sponges.
The boy studies one four-pointed star, barely alive. He closes
his eyes, makes a wish, casts this broken body back into
the water. Months later, it will radiate symmetry--
grow a new limb--while that boy, forever
young in photos, grins, eyes bright.
Nancy Manning holds an MFA in Poetry from Southern Connecticut State University. Her short stories and poems have appeared in an eclectic mix of publications, most recently Humans of the World, Sad Girl Diaries, Noctua Review and Unmagnolia. Her novel Undertow of Silence won the TAG publishing award; her poetry collections are entitled Amethyst Garden, The Unspoken of Our Days, and What Glues Us Together. She teaches high school English classes. The genre of this submission is poetry.
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