Silver & Deep


Drinking the water today's sun
bathed in, I reel and stammer,
chasing whatever the wind
throws my way, breathing
big to clear my hazing eyes
until this walking-level world feels 
more ordinary and organized,
the weight of my feet on dirt
and concrete nothing more
than me, pressing down.

But the sky's on the loose, 
rain clouds bustling 
across its skin fast as they can.
I quick swallow a draft 
the moon bathed in, tasting a stream
overgrown with oaks. Leaves steep
soothing tannin into the flow—
yellow tea brewed from trees who are
the moon's familiars here on earth.

Fine as any line-up of suns
a night sky could flaunt,
this dipper deepens.
My drinking gourd shines.


                                 —Paulann Petersen

The Voluptuary, Lost Horse Press, 2010

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