A Litany of Water
Playing cards float beneath the fingers of willows. A gamble on the undertow.
Humpback whales pass back and forth before leaving. We count each body twice.
Saltwater taffy. Clearance. Sand dollars and sea glass, braided kite string.
Seagulls in their matted gowns fall to kiss the sand and scavenge for pearls.
A dancer, her hair darkened by the river as she rode a raft of feathers out of here.
A ballet published posthumously. I was there when the stage collapsed, and we all fell in.
I want to drink from the mouths in the mountains, my origins.
The rain ages when it falls and becomes part of a stream.
I become part of the river.
The pressure drains from my ears, always heading to the ocean.
Playing cards float beneath the fingers of willows. A gamble on the undertow.
Humpback whales pass back and forth before leaving. We count each body twice.
Saltwater taffy. Clearance. Sand dollars and sea glass, braided kite string.
Seagulls in their matted gowns fall to kiss the sand and scavenge for pearls.
A dancer, her hair darkened by the river as she rode a raft of feathers out of here.
A ballet published posthumously. I was there when the stage collapsed, and we all fell in.
I want to drink from the mouths in the mountains, my origins.
The rain ages when it falls and becomes part of a stream.
I become part of the river.
The pressure drains from my ears, always heading to the ocean.
Ben Read lives in Spokane, Washington, where he is a junior at Lewis and Clark High School. His work has been recognized by RiverLit, Eunoia Review, and The Adroit Journal, and he was named a 2015 Foyle Young Poet of the Year by the Poetry Society of the United Kingdom. He recently co-founded Ponderosa Literary Journal at his high school. Other than writing, he likes to participate in speech and debate, attend and read at local poetry slams in coffee and burrito shops, and listen to music like the Juno soundtrack. His favorite muse is the river.