“Saltwater” by Varnika Jammalamadaka
December 2, 2025
If I am to be tossed
Point them in the direction of the Pacific
Tell them there is no specific way
I’d want them to drown me at sea
Pathetic, like garbage
Her frothy white soap could not convince me
I am not the prodigal son.
Am I not the Holy Grail?
My veins, they course with these currents
These flurries of salt rip away at my flesh
Reborn, like recycling
I am birthed and refreshed
I am torn from the plastics of the river’s quiet end
I silence the screams of those who mean less
I bubble to the surface like the tangled, salted seaweed
They sent back
Minerals of Michigan, I’m stretched to the Atlantic
I attack
Like a garbage bag so black,
I gulp down oceans.
I choke them in their motions because
I was tossed, pathetic
Here I stand.
More powerful than man.
This poem was written by Varnika Jammalamadaka, a Youth Poetry Fellow. Performed at the Seattle Arts & Lectures SAL Presents event with Salman Rushdie at Benaroya Hall on Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025.