Ophelia’s soliloquy after a depressive relapse

by Celinda Olive

i am back here again, fourteen years later 

at the river’s edge that i did not journey to willingly

but       more of a slow sink      bare feet sleeping steps on grass 

clouds gathering in the mind like layered gauze 

the   sun        a distant memory 

my center    bottomed-out                  my      peace      gone

but i stand quickly, help and light so close now 

i back away, look up the stairs behind me

and take one step, then another, backward 

but really – forward

Celinda Olive is a poet from the Minneapolis area and has an MFA in Creative Writing from Seattle Pacific University. She’s a clumsy steward of beauty and just wants to walk in fields of moss and soak in the present moment.