(for Adrienne)
__________by Rebecca Strait

rivers aren’t supposed

   to run dry

        but my mouth 

                   is so parched

              my lips 

                     cracked and chapped

                           

you’d swear

                                  

            i’d been lickin’ ashes

                         

tasting 

   

            the bitter dust

 

                     left behind 

    

              in your wake.