Summer 2018 Contest Winner: Stephen Black
Stephen Black’s work has appeared in publications such as About Place, The Hopper, and Wilderness House. His writing explores the bio-regional history of West Tennessee and the tensions and relationships between people and the landscapes they inhabit. He teaches yoga and writing in Memphis and whenever possible walks in the woods with his coonhound, named Henry D., of course.
Mostly Water
55 to 60%
to be almost exact
body planet
First floating inside our mothers
No matter what else we are
we are mostly water
endlessly murmurating
cloud rain stream river ocean vapor cloud
On a bank beside the river
the best thoughts are river thoughts
Like this:
shrews locusts eagles earthworms lions
oaks
even rocks swallow rain
And this:
We seek
something hard
to engrave ourselves upon
but
houses forests stones
dissolve
eventually.
Nothing remains
after us
but the water
we once held
that once held us
Like the bird sufficient
with its one unfurling song
the river sings only this
Sheila-Na-Gig online 