Generation Gap
By Elodie Barnes
Happiness is too much to bear
after a lifetime of loving
in the shadows
and so my grandmother pours honey
over strawberries,
sweetness on sweetness,
red nectar taking the place
of a woman’s lips.
She asks me: where on this island do you swim?
and I cannot say
I don’t swim - I tread water
while strands of kelp stroke my skin
and the water is warm
and the shore is far enough away
for me to look back in time and see her
sunlit, alone
the strawberries drip golden
down our fingers
stranded between two longings
as one wave follows another to the shore
and her feet struggle to breathe
and her words are sparks floating
on the tide.
Honey dissolves on our tongues
in silence.
Elodie Rose Barnes is an author and photographer. She can be found between Paris, Spain and the UK (usually mixing up her languages) while her words live in places such as Amethyst Review, Clover & White and Neologism Poetry Journal. She is guest editor of the Life in Languages series at Lucy Writers’ Platform. Find her online at http://elodierosebarnes.weebly.com and on Twitter @BarnesElodie.