<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From In the Words Of the River<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n All words except title transcribed from garbage pulled out of the swimming hole in<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Flatrock, Newfoundland.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Middle Pool, Where We Submerge Three Times Like the Mikvah<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s go to the water and get clean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That slow cold current,<\/p>\n\n\n\n just before it all falls into the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There. Let\u2019s tip forward<\/p>\n\n\n\n and go under.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First time for the body: that chill,<\/p>\n\n\n\n that simple sport of returning to the skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Again for the mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You who decided to let yourself<\/p>\n\n\n\n be curious\u2014let\u2019s bypass thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s quit the facts for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s risk our leading brand sunlight,<\/p>\n\n\n\n our pasteurized chances of having it all,<\/p>\n\n\n\n to tip, to turn, to twist open<\/p>\n\n\n\n under water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One more time<\/p>\n\n\n\n for that which is wild in each of us,<\/p>\n\n\n\n the simple particles of being<\/p>\n\n\n\n removed from the packaging<\/p>\n\n\n\n of thirst and hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After, you are clean as dishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your skin sparkling cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inside, what could be<\/p>\n\n\n\n a small window opening. No,<\/p>\n\n\n\n less than that. Light comes in<\/p>\n\n\n\n as if through a straw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And what is this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n This small I\u2019m sorry<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n in one palm. And<\/p>\n\n\n\n it was not you<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n in the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Say it to yourself. Say it<\/p>\n\n\n\n to your face, your throat\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m sorry<\/em>\u2014say it where it hurts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Say it for your gentle hands<\/p>\n\n\n\n when you did not know<\/p>\n\n\n\n to be a fighter. For all the things<\/p>\n\n\n\n you could not say. Or,<\/p>\n\n\n\n calculating costs, did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Allez go! Get it in your eyes,<\/p>\n\n\n\n in your hair, on your all-possible skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Know this, breathe it, if only for these wet seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Go under and under and under;<\/p>\n\n\n\n return again and again and again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Break the seal on the brilliant verb of your body.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From In the Words Of the River All words except title transcribed from garbage pulled out of the swimming hole in Flatrock, Newfoundland. Middle Pool, Where We Submerge Three Times Like the Mikvah Let\u2019s go to the water and get clean. That slow cold current, just before it all falls into the sea. There. Let\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"11045","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2133],"tags":[],"genre":[150],"publisher":[],"issue":[],"poet-in-residence":[],"series":[],"topic":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12868"},{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=12868"},{"taxonomy":"publisher","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publisher?post=12868"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=12868"},{"taxonomy":"poet-in-residence","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/poet-in-residence?post=12868"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=12868"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcpoetry.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=12868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}