Surf’s edge, the shallow trough
I dig for her to lie in,
mound high
with wet, heavy sand.
Több, she says, több,
for me to bucket on
more, more—sculpt
her legs, her belly,
pack down
her breasts,
her shoulders.
Nyak, arc, fej—
neck, face, head.
She slows her breath
through a striped paper straw—
periscope rising
above her cast body
so her belly won’t rise,
won’t crack her shell.
She disappears under my hands.
Salts seep through her skin,
into her muscles and joints—
release her, for a time, from
stiffness, swelling, pain.
This, my practice for the soil
I will gentle into her grave
until she is fully covered—
not to let the rough backhoe
or sextons shove
anonymous dirt over her.
This, her promise
that the tides of time
will wash away,
that she will rise up—
come back to me.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 27, Issue 3.
Susanna Rich is a bilingual Hungarian-American poet and translator, a Fulbright Fellow in Creative Writing (Hungary), a Collegium Budapest Fellow, and Distinguished Professor Emerita of English at Kean University (NJ). With two Emmy Award nominations for poetry, Susanna is founding producer and principal performer at Wild Nights Productions, LLC. Her repertoire includes the musical Shakespeare’s *itches: The Women v. Will and ashes, ashes: A Poet Responds to the Shoah. Susanna is author of five poetry collections, most recently Beware the House and SHOUT! Poetry for Suffrage.
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