“On the Brink” by Dianne Borsenik

Alison Saar, Backwater Blues, 2014, woodcut and chine colle on paper. Collection of the Maier Museum of Art.

After Alison Saar’s Backwater Blues

She tried
to sweep away those
backwater blues,
tried to sweep them back
to where they began
so long ago, tried
to sweep disappointment
into the drink, tried
to sweep faded blues
into the pink.  Now,
she stares
over her shoulder
to the moment
she realized she was
submerged in backwater,
wonders how it was
she failed to climb
to safety in time.
This long moment
is rising; she feels its chill
take her ankles.
She is naked to its
detritus.  This
long moment; this one,
and the next.
Her chances for rescue,
capsized.

About the Author: 

Dianne Borsenik is active in the northern Ohio poetry scene and regional reading circuit.  Her work is widely published, including Rosebud, Slipstream, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, and A Rustling and Waking Within, a 2017 ekphrastic anthology from the Ohio Poetry Association.  Lit Youngstown put her poem “Disco” on their tee shirts, which makes her feel like a rock star.  Since 2011, she has been publisher/editor at NightBallet Press.  You can find her on Facebook and at www.dianneborsenik.com.