Elemental
never more
than the ferns crouching
around your summer sweat.
how many times
will i say, forest,
but mean, your limbs?
the river bottomed
out on the surface
of your palms.
you cradled it
gently, you cradled it
like your blood
was still precious.
you cradled a river
with the slipping
sigh of earth
meeting water.
i sighed the day we met.
Jade Riordan is from northern Canada; she’s currently attending university further south. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Contemporary Verse 2, The Fib Review, Half Mystic Journal, NōD, Right Hand Pointing, the anthology MicroText 3 (Medusa’s Laugh Press), and elsewhere. She is a member of Bywords’ selection committee.