The Matter of Water by Federica Santini
Who is the patterner of water? Does she draw
slow circles in the ample lakes of your eyes, does she
hold the sharp sense-crest of each wave as it surges?
Is there a backbone to water? Does it float
to the surface in shattered debris of regret? Can you hold
water, shape it to your own image, patient Eve-water
rebuilding yourself drop by drop?
Is there a voice to the rain-song of water? Do you hear it
at night, rapping fast on your window? Does she
sing right now at the back of your lids, a Morse code
pattern of words ill-repaid?
The last wave breaks, all is silence.
Federica Santini lives in Atlanta, GA, and teaches at Kennesaw State University. She holds an M.A. from the University of Siena, Italy, and a Ph.D. from UCLA. A literary critic, poet, and translator, her work has been published in over forty journals and volumes. Her recent poetry appears in Ember Chasm, Plath Profiles, and The Ocotillo Review among others. She is a 2021 Desert Nights, Rising Stars Writers Conference Fellow (Arizona State University).