Watershine

Watershine

Mary Willis

Before there was light
there was water
and after light
there was watershine.

Today hard earth remembers
water is the oldest
and most mercurial sign.

The sun is up to its slickest trick,
making its entire body
glimmer like a fish.
Clouds fill then spill, water lilies
distilling the whitest light.

I know if I open a window now
I’ll feel wet wind,
the tug of water.

Why should I fear
being taken in?

There are thoughts so clear
we can drown in them
just by looking out.

---

Mary Willis
Poet & Novelist

Mary Willis lives in London, Ontario. Her poems have appeared in such journals and magazines as Canadian Literature, The Fiddlehead, Poems for Ephesians, Solum Journal, Faith Today, and Pulp Literature. She has published three chapbooks, and her work has been included in anthologies, most recently in In a Strange Land (Wipf & Stock, 2019). She also writes Christian novels.

Photography by Ryan Klaus