Poem by Anna Leader (Luxembourg)

Published in The Ofi Press issue 41

Poem selected by Georgina Mexía-Amador for the Ofi Press/ YPN collaboration competition

 Image: "Ripples of Colour" by Scott Cresswell.

the rising sun

this is a dream: he and i

swim lazy circles in brackish water,

trace pictures in the waves

that don’t dissolve. on the beach

there are two boats; their curved structures

made from thick tusky bones.

it feels strange to step inside

what was an animal. will it float,

i wonder, a boat of bones

and nothing else, but it does float,

and we push away from the shore

with a fat white stick each

that sinks into the gurgling sand.

he pushes his boat toward mine,

to be funny—the bones interlock

like nervous fingers and sigh

themselves some inches down in the water.

i make a face and wave my stick.

he laughs, reminds me this is a dream

and we punt the boats,

slowly, out to the sun.