Water House

Emerald Darner Nymph       Speckled Lily Nymph

               pond & water
          voiced the Oded
           seed   head

       *

Pursuit of&       after After &/ anynews from Over
watervoiced i               [muddy, sweetly       down
crown-shy-river-lighted:

have you house&gardenyard?    have you chalicecan?

O   i                             O   i
          O   i
                      O

rock hound backed & hounding after After     Over
                                             stones

           ghost
            pipe

Ought not we have our Over Painteds our Over Lovelys?

hot wand the Yew Signs
may they be maidenfound.              [rue & violets]

              [columbine]

—

from Issue 12 of Sweet Mammalian

—

Elise Thi Tran is a writer, poet, and multimedia artist based in Missouri. Her work appears or is forthcoming in APARTMENT, Blackbird, Diode, Copper Nickel, The Kenyon Review, Salt Hill, and elsewhere. Find Elise on Instagram @elise.tran and selections of her work at linktr.ee/elisethi