Ocean Water
Dasha Kelly Hamilton

The ocean pushes back
Alive and vigorous 
The heritage of habitat
Leans against expectation
Muscles its due respect
Without regard
Without warning
Without reorienting the ones
With swimming perspectives
Limitations of consistent temperature 
and painted cement walls

The ocean rumbles its sovereignty 
Full weight of freedom on my skin. 

Dasha Kelly Hamilton is a writer and performance 
artist. She is National Rubinger Fellow and currently 
Poet Laureate for the city of Milwaukee and the 
State of Wisconsen. In 2021, she received an 
Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.