A lick's a mistake a creek tries to forget,
Rent from DeepDyve- A lick's a mistake a creek tries to forget,
a creek's much bigger, something the river mustaccept. Except Crummies Creek, which enters theCumberland as just a puny stream, havingbeen dammed thirteen miles up its mouth and madeto flood the mining town. You'd need to boatto the middle to feel as if it mightstill be in there, deep, current broiling the eaves,undermining the Commissary, washingthrough the submerged trees. But you're on the beachspread with a grit the quarry sells as sand,lake so full it seems to tilt the level land,and there's a girl, in up to her knees, who turnsso you see the red lick down her belly rush into her cutoff jeans, some scar her flesh won't correct, her sister's child held against her hip. [End Page 99]
Eric Schwerer is an associate professor in the Program in Creative Writing at the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown. He has written two books of poetry, and his work has appeared in Northwest Review, NOR, Laurel Review, Fence, and others. He has worked as a carpenter and taught poetry to people recovering from mental illness.
