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  • The City at the Bottom of the Lake
  • Jaclyn Dwyer (bio)

In 1926, Pennsylvania Power and Light constructed Lake Wallenpaupack over the city of Wilsonville. At the time, the water was clear enough to see the city at the bottom of the lake.

The summer Kelly Brievogel went missing,they dragged the lake. Entire rooms surfaced,

a window hung on great hooks, its shutters warpedlike old hands, too painful to hold anything.

My first time fishing, I caught a roofand pulled up rusted rain gutters.

Slate shingles swam straight into my net.

Its banks are littered with bottles,pitched from sleepy pontoons. [End Page 104]

There are no messages coiled inside them,no undelivered love letters, only stray cigarette ends.

In Lenapi, Wallenpaupack meansthe stream of swift and slow water,

but this dammed water does not move.

Slowly darkening from boat exhaust,the water is black, even in daylight.

The years have obscured the city below.Even the church steeple has disappeared.

My last time fishing, I snagged a lock of hair.I imagined her sleeping

on a waterlogged featherbed, reading delicate booksthat disintegrate as she turns the page,

and drinking from a glass that is always full.

Jaclyn Dwyer

Jaclyn Dwyer earned an MFA from the University of Notre Dame, where she received the Sparks Fellowship. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Harpur Palate, Iron Horse Literary Review, Gargoyle Magazine, Rattle, and 30 under 30: An Anthology of Innovative Fiction by Younger Writers.

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