A silent woman rolls up her sleeve.
Sword-wielding sirens
battling pirates in winged ships
scroll down her arm in crimson ink.
Near her wrist, in the gap
between radius and ulna
three mermaids dive into the waves
unfurl their tails
swim to the vanishing.
Marian Urquilla’s work explores the intersections of migration and identity. Her poems have appeared in The Acentos Review, Journal of Latina Critical Feminism, and West Trestle. She and her wife live in California’s East Bay.