Water Carving – Sy Brand

I throw bridges above
the water and wait,
timed by birdsong

for you to pass under, wild hair peeking
from twig
and reed
and soil
and pebble ringlets dimpled; splish splash,

suncrease at the corners
of everything you move, every arch you make
for me to flow through; a curve
in sandstone, swell with me,
break to treeline, carve
horseshoe bends in oak, currentless,
dream of waves in the crook of an arm
bent down the delta
and into the sea.

Sy is a queer non-binary Scottish poet. They write through the haze of cat-/child-induced sleep deprivation to make sense of gender, relationships, and ADHD. Their debut chapbook, Cloud Picker, is upcoming in 2023 with Thirty West Publishing. Find them at sybrand.ink and on Twitter @TartanLlama.