LIVING ON GOD'S DIME
by Brody Parrish Craig
see us where the heron cops the river
for a loiter of fish mouth cuffed half-
moon yellowed evidence no questions
& no bayou but the city where we were
who watches over us & what is weaving
like stitched silver in the river the city caught
as stagnant water nearby some future crossed
its legs from fear or sense of false politeness
nearby 78 proof vessels hung
like scraps on their suburban
watch our step
& bead our sweat
what pearled
between
adidas shell
& gas pedal
to brush off town
this city wears smiles down
this city wears smiles down
cops pave themselves
authoritative as a road
to hold the body up
they hold you up
streetwise & stagger
clench their holster every time
they try to hold
some collar on the blood
white count that works
over the bones that hounds
hunting the clod out
their own raged mouth
where wages of existence is still death
what if the impulse came and went
as water wove the city
our thirst for something more
to cup than hands unlike synecdoche
some hope unlike loose change
between the heron's teeth
for a loiter of fish mouth cuffed half-
moon yellowed evidence no questions
& no bayou but the city where we were
who watches over us & what is weaving
like stitched silver in the river the city caught
as stagnant water nearby some future crossed
its legs from fear or sense of false politeness
nearby 78 proof vessels hung
like scraps on their suburban
watch our step
& bead our sweat
what pearled
between
adidas shell
& gas pedal
to brush off town
this city wears smiles down
this city wears smiles down
cops pave themselves
authoritative as a road
to hold the body up
they hold you up
streetwise & stagger
clench their holster every time
they try to hold
some collar on the blood
white count that works
over the bones that hounds
hunting the clod out
their own raged mouth
where wages of existence is still death
what if the impulse came and went
as water wove the city
our thirst for something more
to cup than hands unlike synecdoche
some hope unlike loose change
between the heron's teeth
Brody Parrish Craig is the author of Boyish (Omnidawn Publishing 2021), the winner of the 2019 Omnidawn Poetry Chapbook contest. They are the editor of Twang, an anthology of TGNC+ creatives from the south/midwest, which was awarded a 2018 Artists 360 Practicing Artist grant. Their poetry may be found online at Crab Fat Magazine, Hobart and Typo, amongst other places. Their first full length poetry collection will be published with Omnidawn in Fall 2024.