Levitate/ Reason

In equilibrium, survival. I’m sorry

about these two left feet.

Stay reasonable, wade right-

of-way. In hindsight. The rustling creek,

mute Chevy submerged

behind me. There was a shadow

in mourning, a warning not

to leave so brusquely, to levy

my troop as around a coffin.

To leverage these arms, to hold

the density of an entangled process,

a sodden cognition, a sorrow

that the levels would rise to throat.

So reason abound ‘til first glint

of reasonable water, the sway rippled calm.

Ripple born of water, in order to levitate.

In order of most to least affected.

A bind, scraping the lacerated and bursting

the skin. Roving limbs, bark

split from trunks. Still, treasure in coffer.

Fences posted around straggling desire.

The wires barbed, and Chevy submerged.

But ripple shaped in water: a form in a coffer

maneuvering the body to tread its stream

and refuse irrigation, irrigate refuse!

In hindsight. Juncture between autonomy

and stiff. By love, roused the shoulders,

awakened to the form in a coffer.

When it returned multiple retellings,

no remorse emerged under my swept feet.

Danica Obradovic lives in Austin, TX, where she works as Fellowship Coordinator at the Harry Ransom Center, a museum and humanities research hub at the University of Texas at Austin. She holds a creative writing MFA degree from the University of Houston-Victoria, with a concentration in poetry. Her book reviews have appeared in RHINO, and her poems can be found in several journals online. Her most recent creative pursuit is experimental film.