Baptism on the Santa Ana

Baptism on the Santa Ana

Andrew Mauzey & Jeff Stillion

I return only to find the river 
has been swallowed
like hands tucked in sleeves
tired of being stuck.

I’ve been here before:
echoes of summer
rising like a ghost,
shoulders in the sun.

Let that be enough to prove
I’m ready, I suppose.
I wish I could spend my days 
working for us. Water like symbols–

I didn’t get it the first time around.
Lantern in hand, I walk a path
and carve my face on stone.
I feel my pockets emptied

of the other way:
alcohol, TV is on,
that money in the mail,
the schoolyards where I ran.

And now at the water, a friend
who listens how the rhythm shakes
a brand new story about starting over again.
Sometimes circles fit in spaces

where fire turns to smoke.
I walk and hear the water say–
Hey, well if you want to stay,
This can be easy.

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Andrew Mauzey & Jeff Stillion
Poet & Professor

Andrew has been published by The Poetry Foundation, TreeHouse Arts, Pioneertown, and 34th  Parallel. He teaches literature and writing at Biola University where he serves as the Associated Director of the English Writing Program. Jeff Stillion is a game writer for Zygobot and teaches Danzan-ryū (Hawaii Island Style) Jujitsu in Burbank, CA. Together they are The Sunday Parade, a Los Angeles-based indie folk band and poetry group.

Photography by Philipp Pilz