Water by Nick Flynn

Water




night & prison & desert & darkness
a pipe, a sewer, a river

after katrina a survivor asked
I didn’t know what the water wanted

*

30k, the base pay, just for
signing up, but it’s easy to

bump it—carry a gun, boom, hazard
pay—carry a gun outside the green

zone, boom—work the night shift at the
prison, boom—

boom, boom, boom

*

back home, capt’n, I was on the look-
out for any bridge, any ledge, I

could dive from, the highest point
to throw my body off of—bridge,

quarry, waterfall

*

this girl, capt’n, four fingers in her mouth
drop by drop by drop by drop, she’d

lick her hand & cup it, carry it

down, everything wet, an oasis in the near-
dark—anywhere, the water whispers

*

nothing to flood, drymouth to
drowning, everyone’s here for a purpose

here comes the tub, here comes the board,
here comes the cloth, here comes the bucket

I found a bridge on an empty road
the water this blackness below

all it takes is to step off into nothing
I knew I’d be here by christmas

*

put your ear to the wall—water inside the wall
water is the empty tub, water is

the licked tile, water the grain of sand
one drop hangs on the prisoner’s tongue—capt’n,

are we allowed to force him to swallow?

*

proteus here I am breaking a sweat
proteus watch as I hold you

proteus here I am licking my fingers
proteus watch as I lick them

watch as I pour watch as I pour watch as I pour
look what comes out of you now

*

submerged in the rain-
filled quarries: cars, tree

stumps, the wall of ruined
house—stories, capt’n,

of things submerged for years
that sometimes, some-

how, broke free, rose up

*

something, capt’n, is wrong, this one stopped
breathing—they said he wouldn’t drown

then he drowned

*

water asks a question, water holds on
while it asks a question, it’s hard

to understand water’s question

come with me, the water says, your
city is burning outside the walls







-Nick Flynn





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