El Cenote

Leanne Tory-Murphy

El Cenote

you can see the bottom
but it’s hard to tell where it
is our feet can’t reach
limestone crumbles into
a deep pool

bats hug close their
heads their heaven
water is

a looking glass
water is a microscope minnows
flash in water that flashes in
sun we speculate allo specchio
d’acqua that reflects and reveals

edges I walk a surveyor
not an architect though
the ruin will be mine –
suggestion of music a trick
of the ear the foundation
constructed of limestone
that crumbles

Leanne Tory-Murphy

Leanne Tory-Murphy (she/they) is a queer writer and organizer who has worked across the fields of labor and migration for more than two decades. She was a Fulbright grantee in Italy, a recipient of the Tow Grant for International Graduate Research in Chile and is a recent graduate of the MFA in Poetry at Brooklyn College. As a Social Practice CUNY fellow, Leanne began to develop 'A Future Language', a poetic practice that draws on both the history of walking pilgrimages and performance art to address personal and collective trauma, grief and history. Leanne's work has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Le Monde Diplomatique, VICE and other publications.

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