Renee Emerson

I do not need anyone to believe in me. 
I am the shadow beneath still water, 
feeding in the depths on rumor.

Still, they do believe—with t-shirts,
mugs, photographs taken on cloudy day.
They need to hold their beliefs in two hands.

I am not afraid of them but do not 
want them closer, the frantic pairs 
of oars, knifing my sky. 

In lightless places, I crunch bones,
the cold water, heavy as stone, 
on my strong body, lithe 
as the current, toad-green. 
They do not know 
what they are headed for. 

I am the word for their loneliness
arching into the mist on the far shore. 

Renee Emerson is the author of the poetry collections Keeping Me Still (Winter Goose Publishing 2014), Threshing Floor (Jacar Press 2016), and Church Ladies (Fernwood Press 2023). She lives in the Midwest with her husband and children, and you can find her online at reneeemerson.substack.com.