"tributary"

tributary

a pair of feet linger

under inches of

cold river water.

they frame a face:

a pair of eyes.

and in them light

lingers from below,

projecting whispers of

a broken bottleneck:

sunken deposition.

a pair of hands extend

and so palms are doused

for the sake of glass,

transparent inquisition.

later on, a mouth tells her:

“it really was beautiful!

can you imagine how old

the pair of lips were

that drank from it?”

"Fukushima Daiichi"

(To Japan. To the waterlogged circumstances and sunken aspirations. To the swift recovery of those touched by this disaster.)

"Fukushima Daiichi"

red tears weave their way to the center

of white cloth; attracted by seismic pull.

a circle is born: round rouge, emboldened

with thought of water, of torrent,

of rubble rinsed in layers of salt, of

an island of silenced hands stretched out

across dark ocean overflow.