The Others Stood, by Brian A. Salmons

Der Wasserman, by Manon Sander (USA) 2019 Click image for artist site.

The Others Stood

Sated and haunched
half in foliate shadow,
the waterman mooned the minutes away
at play with his essence
in the mild May sun.

He thought back,
to the lime tree,
the maidens' dance. The chance
he took in taking one,
with only a pretty wreath and
feral truth as bait,

as she threw feeble loops
about mothers and fear
and the others stood in laurel-like
paralysis. He smiled
when he remembered this.

The light kissed
the surface of his crystal hall.
He did not hear their

     approach.

Through the dark growth, anger honed
to machete edge, her sisters came
to avenge her, to bloody her riverine
grave red as tea,
and collect their morning gifts.

Brian A. Salmons

​Brian A. Salmons is a poet and translator from Orlando, Florida. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Eyedrum Periodically, NonBinary Review, Poets Reading the News, The Light Ekphrastic, Eratio, and others, including anthologies from YellowJacket Press and TL;DR Press.