I slid you across my mouth like a fresh-caught trout
cold scales on my tongue
your empty unblinking eye

now I don’t reel you in for strangers
don’t set stringers in the mud
women continue to tiptoe out of the trees

into the water yellow leaves sway
they float downriver like lanterns that light the way
although they do not

if a bird
if any of us sings it is by design
it is by design if we do not