The Drowning
by Lindsay Rockwell
The Child That Lies Between Us
in this dark
in this bed
is quiet and soft.
I love her hands.
The fire of her undoes us.
Your eyes are wells.
Do you love your blood—
how it warms you.
Her hands are enough.
I drift. Drift
because between us
she is mast and stable.
Our lighthouse.
Do you love
the tiny things that teach
you to breathe—
She is the round
of not yet
verdant hills. The post
that anchors the gate.
Gate we painted one Wednesday
in June the color of silt.
She was once the oak
we planted
east of the northern corner
of never.
I love how we blanket
her small body
with our breath.
The Drowning
After the pulling her blank breath
we red-eyed no grip no hand to hold
after the pulling a pall shrouded the beach
wind barely sifted the summer heat shock
swallowing pulling as if a gigantic star dying
as if dying carved of an unknown element
we cannot name or hold its scent its scent
shadow and remembrance remember how
she lay there after the pulling and you
after they took her away you outlined
the weight of her lain too long unmoving
your finger trembling tracing you almost
lay down too almost crawled inside her imprint
I watched you you so lost we so silent
soaked in our stunning we and she and all
our edges disappearing when the tide came
What I Meant to Say
is more difficult than holding you
the breathing sound we made
was green was moss was fruit found
ripe and wanting tongue all I want
is your tongue to slide along
my belly where my want is endless
as that day we watched our death
swim away we were two blind
animals roaming the shore beneath
a confusion of constellations turning
above us and when I said farewell
what I meant to say is tether me
tether me with anything your shoelace
that color red you love that has no name
Lindsay Rockwell
Lindsay Rockwell is poet-in-residence for the Episcopal Church of Connecticut and hosts their Poetry and Social Justice Dialogue series. She’s published, or forthcoming, in CALYX, Gargoyle, Radar, The Dewdrop, among others. Her first collection, GHOST FIRES, was published by Main Street Rag, April 2023.