1973
let me tell you how loss pushes through sand
once the salt settles and dries once the sun
pulls pale waves of grass through the loam let me
tell you how it feels when your hand is cold
and the fish skeleton inside of it
is also cold but the ground is hot walk
by the boat covered in flaking Aral
blue inhale that sweet -cide and I’ll tell you
about the bitter day the sturgeons watched
their eggs float into the drying current
1999
let me tell loss push through sand
salt settle the sun
pull pale waves through loam let me
feel your hand cold
the fish skeleton inside
cold but the ground is
by the boat in flaking Aral
blue sweet-cide I’ll tell you
the sturgeons watched
their eggs float in the current
2006
let loss push sand
settle the sun
pull pale loam
feel
the fish skeleton
the ground is
the boat flaking Aral
-cide
the sturgeons watched
their eggs float in the current
2024
loss push
settle
pull
feel
the skeleton
Aral
sturgeons watch
their eggs in
Lydia O’Donnell (she/her) is a teacher, editor, and writer of fiction and poetry. She received her MFA at the University of Alabama and is the former managing editor of Black Warrior Review. Her work can be found or is forthcoming in Ninth Letter, The Pinch, Strange Horizons, and elsewhere.
