Zoe Culbertson
Summer 2025 | Poetry
The Crossing
Lap after lap I take my body of water
and crisscross this turquoise rectangle,
pushing off the wall and easy glide through,
cerulean ombre as the deep end looms.
Outstretched fingers fit into gloves of shadow,
silver air bubbles suddenly go silent,
as I am adrift in the long shadow within the roofline.
The relief of pebbled concrete,
the chance to breach and breathe.
Plunged back in, round cheeks sealed tight,
suddenly she’s there again with me-
terracotta limbs glowing in afternoon sun,
forearm touching forearm,
body emerging into the lit air.
Zoe Culbertson is an acupuncturist, meditation teacher and poet who has published work in Wildfire and printed two chapbooks (Become and The Wake) on a letterpress using her own handmade paper through Persephone Press. She was fortunate to study with Mary Oliver at Bennington College and is a founding member of the Marblehead (MA) Poets Group where she lives by the sea with her family.