Kerianne Marie is a writer and artist from New York. Her work primarily focuses on: dreams, surrealism, meditation, and nature. In 2019 she participated in a group exhibition at the Nippon Gallery, including her project The Ocean in a Teacup as a part of the 18th Tokyo-New York Friendship Ceramic Competition. In 2020, she completed her first chapbook Small Migrations.
Oceans/Voyager
1.
A womb without water is a desert — Or are all barren women lost at sea?
I have an ocean inside of me & I am empty.
I am battered by the sea in one dream & float on cool clear water in another – It is turquoise teal blue cerulean seafoam green salty air scent grains on cheeks breathe clean hands grip wooden railings & stare deep into depths So blue & untouched. I am alone in a way Though I don’t know who steers the ship just that I am going & something better lies ahead than floating. lonely or sinking like stone. I don’t know where I’m leaving or where I’m going
2.
The fate of a boat is unknown but they sail anyway. My 3rd-great-grandfather left from Le Havre, France on the Ship Oneida for New York in 1846. Years later that ship left New York for San Francisco & that ship left San Francisco for Alaska & that ship sunk off the Alaskan coast.
The Oneida are: “the People of the Standing Stone.” Long ago, when being chased through the woods, the Oneida people suddenly disappeared Low & behold by turning themselves into stone evading their enemies & escaping harm.
A stone is at home in the woods, Rests easy on the ground but heavy in the sea.
A ship needs a name, a ship made for people, A ship that made its way around the world: India, France, Peru, Australia, England, America: the land and nature of the Oneida Iroquois people.
A ship that was sold to the Alaskan salmon trade & struck a ledge off the Alaskan coast sinking like namesake stone.