Land-and-Sea
I like to swim out till I can’t swim more
Until it’s hard to get my breath and in gasping have work to do
Get back to shore
I don’t want to tell you about the girl
Lying abed, my head beside hers
On the white pillow eyes white she said I have not prayed
I have barely ever done that I said don’t worry I have done that for you
I have included you in all the days of my life
All days have been good for praying though it’s hard to believe
That’s all God wants
Shouldn’t He want more in return for all this swanning around in the breeze
Feeling easy in the body
So animal, so wry
I love the purple inside oyster shells but haven’t done a thing to help them
Nothing we can do to earn the mainsail beauty, given every day
And the lifting sea.
From Even the Dark (Southern Illinois University Press, 2019) by Leslie Williams. Copyright © 2019 by Leslie Williams. Used with permission of the author.
Leslie Williams
Leslie Williams is the author of three poetry collections, most recently Matters for You Alone (Slant Books, 2024). Her book, Even the Dark (SIU Press, 2019), won the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition and was a finalist for the Julia Ward Howe Award.
Williams’s other honors include the Bellday Prize, the Robert H. Winner Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, and Individual Artist grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. She lives in Massachusetts.