In the shadows I became a stranger drowning in a river.
A stranger drowning. In a river. I became.
In the shadows I became a stranger drowning in a river.
I tried so hard to save her but there was too much water.
She didn’t even extend her hand or cry out–
In a river. I tried so hard to save her.
But there was too much water. A stranger drowning in a river.
She didn’t even extend her hand or cry out.
Her eyes glazed over–Was she staring into a mirror?
There was too much water. I tried. So hard to save her.
In the shadows I became her eyes glazed over. In a river.
She didn’t even extend her hand– Cry out!
Her eyes glazed over. Was she staring into a mirror?
A stranger drowning in a river. There was too much water.
Her body flickered across slick surfaces, electric
gleaming– In the shadows: a stranger. Drowning.
Too much water. I tried to save her. This stranger.
In a river. Her eyes glazed over. Her body flickered.
Across slick surfaces, electric shadows become me.
In the shadows I became a stranger drowning in a river.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 24, Issue 2.
Shannon K. Winston’s book, The Girl Who Talked to Paintings (Glass Lyre Press), was published in 2021. Her individual poems have appeared in RHINO Poetry, West Trestle Review, The Shore, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers and a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan. Find her here: https://shannonkwinston.com/
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