I’m a mermaid,
Figure 1: The Mermatrix.
but only part-time.
I guess there just aren’t a lot of full-time mermaid positions available in Idaho.
Figure 2: Idaho. Mermaid population: 1+.
I struggle to fill the demands of my position in a landlocked state,
but I scrape by on a room full of seashells and sand dollars.
This is the only job I've known since my wind-soaked skin felt saltwater for the first time.
Yet, I am a mermaid who's fought the sea god, my creator.
He was never a sea-faring man, but his temper was as turbulent as the sea in a storm, crushing little boats beneath his heavy, salty hands.
He is an almost Poseidon, but there is a difference between Poseidon, the sea, and him,
the ocean drowns all sailors just the same,
but my father only ever hit me.
Perhaps confusing me for a siren who drowned his favorite sailor he would leave whirlpool bruises to show his displeasure.
The land would not have me, the god of the sea would kill me,
and I am drowning underneath the weight of both, licking lips of salt and blood.