The Drowning
by Lindsay Rockwell
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
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
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.
What a lovely poem this is— haunting and shocking, love the formatting and stunned silences.