Squeeze the river rocks. Sharpen them. They will carve the bed below each raised breast. Unleash current down your side. It is almost habit—this cycle—every 29 days, dredging a pattern around the pond. For years now, you’ve brought your bottles while the morning sucks back drops off every blade: Now oil overflows. Noxious asphaltum. Nitrates. Though you might have missed it, time has been holy all along. The gulping willow bows in all directions: every cup offered to the garden’s thistle, every shoulder sponged, every towel logged. The splashed stone threshold, where you’ve set words with your bucket, holds memory. Your body is a body—water of you—no dismal shore, only shale and the long line of your spine cutting this tide.
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Cathlin Noonan (she/her) is a poet based out of San Marcos, Texas. Cathlin’s poem “Ghazal With Louse” was a finalist for Crazyhorse‘s Lynda Hull Memorial Poetry Prize for 2022, and her poem “Setting the Record” was a finalist for Broad River Review‘s 2022 Rash Award in Poetry. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Meridian, Denver Quarterly, Salamander, and Lumina among others. She can be found online at cathlinnoonan.com.
