- In the Book
In the book when the boy nearly drownedhis legs wrapped in weeds or maybe rope
I was gripped and followed his footstepsalong the dune road to the heavy churchdoor that eased open at the touch of one hand
breathing cool air out against his facehis sodden trousers wrapping his calveswet cuffs breaded white with sand
and everyone turned to look and sawnothing but a dark door haloed with lightpushed opened by a breeze, no boy at all—
the scene was so real time slippedinto its spiraled shell and pulled itsfeelers behind the hinged clasp
and I stood to pour myself a glassof something strong enough to cutthrough the feeling when I opened
those crisp pages againto find the boy still strugglingto kick himself free [End Page 204]
of that grasping kelpthen heave himselfonto the packed sand
his fingers carvingtrails as he sputteredand coughed
and though stunnedwas soon fine.
I riffled numblyforward then backthen forwardagain and slowly
searched the entirebook but the sceneat the church was gone. [End Page 205]
Michael Bazzett won the Lindquist & Vennum Prize for his first full-length collection, You Must Remember This (Milkweed, 2014). His poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Massachusetts Review, Pleiades, Oxford Poetry, 32 Poems, and Poetry Northwest.