from Letters Inscribed in Snow (IV)

 
 
 
Have you taken him, she asked the river, offering her blood-‐‐red shoes
 
If the answer is yes, will you take me      too?
 
No       said the river
 
Which no      she asked
 
First no       spoke the river
 
And second is second, she said, each second is beckoning
 
Billows bother me      bully      stop butchering
 
The river laughed    so blustered    she took herself    away
 
 
 

Laynie Browne is the author of ten collections of poetry and two novels. Her most recent collection of poems, Lost Parkour Ps(alms) is out in two editions, one in English, and another in French, from Presses universitaires de Rouen et du Havré (2014). She is a 2014 Pew Fellow. Forthcoming books include Scorpyn Odes (Kore Press) and P R A C T I C E (SplitLevel Texts).