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).