Beyond is the aftermath
always leading to blue
waters, startling and clear afternoon
Beyond is the beginning
the very thought of essence
somewhere in a holy place
Beyond is the middle
the now and its peculiar
joy and lack of grasping
Beyond my mother’s struggle
my father’s prize
into my own unmapped regions
A series of waves
a steady shine
a sapphire edge
Carla McGill’s work has been published in The Atlanta Review, Bryant Literary Review, Shark Reef, Crack the Spine, Westview, Common Ground Review, Caveat Lector, Door Is A Jar, Euphony Journal, The Hungry Chimera, Carbon Culture Review, Neologism Poetry Journal, DASH Literary Journal, Schuylkill Valley Journal of the Arts, The Summerset Review, The Penmen Review, Cloudbank, Paragon Journal, Burningword, The Alembic, California Quarterly, Waxing & Waning, Broad River Review and others. She lives in Southern California where she writes poetry and fiction.