Blackwater
By Nancy K. Pearson
When I broke through the woods I was clear
to the marsh. The frayed scrapes.
The lost tongues.
A foal folding on the water is how the light went.
“Necessary and momentary activations”
is what my cousin the ex-Guard says
about using a flashlight
after The Republican Palace became a US Embassy
before we gave it back.
At dusk, there’s the weft and the heap.
The birds trapped in a pant leg.
The reeds following the reeds, the wind-blown sheep.
Every idea we ever had
pushed out
on the bench press in his garage.
To visit with Nancy Pearson, click here.
“Blackwater” was selected by Matthew Dickman as a runner-up in the 2010 Ruth Stone Poetry Prize.
- Read Nancy Pearson’s other runner-up poem “Opening Day”.
- Read the winning poem “Between Land and Water” by Ashley Seitz Kramer.
- Read runner-up poem “Jewel Tones” by Samantha Kolber.
- To read a poem by 2010 Ruth Stone Poetry Prize judge Matthew Dickman, click here.
