to make the water sick

to make the water sick

by alyssa hanna

the rainbow puddle of an oil stain you are

some haunting some specter a desert

desolate i taste the acid the gas this

water has no life but viruses and

bacterial infection turning oxygen to

red to pus to a body gone septic

and i don’t remember much of that night

pissing on the pier and laughing at my own helplessness

jostling in a car seat or tumbling out of a car seat

or fumbling with the seat belt or

leaning over a smooth and shiny dining room

table falling asleep and waking to

an unfamiliar body a body of

denial a body of refusal a body of

sick water for which there is no cure

just the sound of me dissolving away like salt

_____________________________________________

alyssa hanna graduated from Purchase College in May 2016 with a degree in Creative Writing and a minor in History. Her poems have appeared in Reed Magazine, The Mid-American Review, The Naugatuck River Review, Cholla Needles, Crack the Spine, Rust + Moth, and was nominated for a 2017 Pushcart Prize. alyssa is an aquarium technician and intends on pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing. She lives in Westchester with her fish and four lizards. follow her @alyssawaking on twitter