Jake Welton- "I Apologize for River"

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the stalks should have been taller 

by this time of year. the seafoam 

stripped beneath our chins, blank 

air washes the fingernailed harvest 

away. see how stubborn our skin 

has become? how thirsty we are for sweat? 

I hold two fingers in your mouth 

and redirect a current of hunger. 

boyhood delayed in sun-stripped 

breaths. nowadays, I lick the salt 

from the earth and apologize 

for river. for burning grass 

back to where it started from. the crows 

cough our names out 

as we relearn touch. in the rice-bleached 

light, we are full of buckwheat 

and pestle our teeth into turbidness. 

I will place you in the river 

and learn another whitebird’s song. 

submerge my ears behind the snow peas 

and wait for your palms against mine.

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