Water from an Urn
After Lorna Simpson’s “Waterbearer”
downturned toward the river
and slanted from a wiry arm,
life trickles into life, culminating
in the zipped sound of spirits
on the mend
a prickly spine faces you
to indicate the notches
of desolation’s imprint
and as a muddied foot is lifted,
a thin gasp lets out from below
Source: Poetry (November 2025)