Riverspeaks
Kate Wallace Rogers


 
I show her
sides of fish
she's never seen,
the turquoise freckle
of damselflies, lithe
on my mossy banks.
Her shadow
trembles along
my membrane like music,
warm and chill by turns,
sinuous as fear.
She might scare off
as dreams of
lovers swim
away.
Yet
she strides
into my shallows,
pauses at my breadth.
In my current I reveal
my every crag
and whorl,
the eddies
of my beaten heart.
She slips on a rockslick,
her laughter
spilling like light
below my surface
as she
falls.
I rush
the seams
of her yielding,
swallow her
surrender.










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About the Author: Kate Wallace Rogers has been writing and performing poetry since second grade. She co-founded the Dragonfly Poetry and Music series in Dennis, MA and has been a featured reader in many Cape Cod venues. A member of the Workshop for Publishing Poets led by Barbara Helfgott-Hyett, her work has appeared in The Beaver, Red Weather, Forage, The Lost Tower Anthology, and The Wayfarer. Kate has also created a slim volume of poetry silk screened on Japanese folding paper. Originally from New York City, Kate currently lives in Provincetown, MA, where she cares for Stanley Kunitz' garden.

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