Koru Magazine

amphibious youth

Anna-Sophia Oeistreich, U. S.

i have just as much
freshwater in my
veins as blood,
years spent at lakes
and ponds and bogs
shaping me into a
creature that is
half-human
half-fish,
amphibious in nature.

my summer days
have been brought up
with sunshine on my tongue
and algae on my toes,
tadpoles darting in between
childlike limbs
while i shrieked with joy.

my skies
have been filled with
seagulls entangled in
mystical dances,
casting amorphous shadows
on the ever-moving waves
below, diving down at
the first glimpse of a
fleeting fishtail.

i can still remember
the feeling of weightlessness,
an underwater astronaut
surrounded by an alien world
that felt just like home.
the image of sunbeams
scattered through water
is branded in my mind,
a kind of beauty that
cannot fade with time.

but slowly, the call of
the land drowned out
the roar of the water,
and the shore became
less my home, and more
a place i used to know.
i don’t go to the
beach anymore, the
sand turning from
soft to scratchy,
tadpoles shifting from
ticklish delights to
gross little worms.
i miss the days where
breathing underwater
was easier than on ground,
where i twirled and swayed
with the seagrass, in the
same rhythm as the waves.

i miss the days where
all the water snakes and
walleyes were instruments
in an orchestra for me alone,
but i fear i have
turned into a landlocked
place, a river whose water
became green from algae blooms
and stagnation long ago.
my once aqua-filled body is
now occupied by vivid scarlet
blood, far too thick for my veins
to handle.

i am drying up on the
inside, and i know that
if i were to go back to the
reservoirs of my youth
and dive in, the water
would be the same as
in my memories,
bluer than the sky
and full of life,
but i would have to
come up for air
like all the rest of my kind.

Anna-Sophia Oeistreich (she/they) is an avid reader and writer who hails from a tree-lined suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. A rising junior in high school, her work focuses on themes of love, loss, and womanhood. She is a Junior Editor for her school’s literary magazine, and her short stories have won multiple awards in Power of the Pen, Ohio’s scholastic writing competition. She firmly believes in the power of the notes app and can be found kayaking, thrifting, sailing on Lake Erie, scrapbooking, or watching Wes Anderson movies in her free time.