---

© 2008 Katherine Lawrence

You wake inside the bones of a ship sailing amniotic
oceans tidal pools tears of the crocodile — your nightgown a second skin
clings like a reputation for sin

No crying—

Seahorse fetus a treble clef troubling the heave and pitch
waves crashing cursing your old carousing self — one two three you and me
hard-to-lee slack lines head over heels kiss-crossed tossed to sea

---

Katherine Lawrence is a writer and fund development specialist whose work has appeared in literary journals across Canada. Her work has also been performed on stage and broadcast on CBC radio. Her first collection of poetry, Ring Finger, Left Hand (Coteau Books, 2001) won the Brenda Macdonald Riches Award for best first book with the Saskatchewan Book Awards. Her second collection, Lying to Our Mothers (Coteau Books, 2006) was a finalist for the Saskatchewan Book Award for poetry and a runner-up for the Alfred G. Bailey Prize for poetry. She has also published a chapbook with Jack Pine Press (2005) titled Split-ends. Katherine is a past-president of the Sage Hill Writing Experience Board of Directors and the current (Saskatchewan) representative for the League of Canadian Poets. Originally from Hamilton, Ontario, Katherine has lived in Saskatoon since 1982. She holds a BA from Carleton University and a post-graduate certificate in creative writing (fiction) from Humber College, Toronto.

---