An Accurate Account of the Ineffable My bucket is fuller than it looks. At least I’ve never seen it empty. Sometimes I sip its refreshing water. But more likely, no; it has that briny taste— Salty like tears. I’ve adjusted to an everyday kind of thirst. Sometimes I use the water from my bucket To sprinkle seeds I’ve scattered on the ground. A few have sprouted but nothing to brag about— Too puny a crop to satisfy ordinary hunger. One day I thought to scoop a cup of water From my bucket and sprinkle-spray the sea— It dispersed without a trace. No wave of joyful reciprocity Arose to meet my droplets. Disappointing, that it made no difference. But the sun was shining that day. More light than I needed.
Maryanne Hannan has published poetry in Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry, The Christian Century, Windhover,The Curator and elsewhere. She is the author of Rocking like It’s All Intermezzo: 21st Century Psalm Responsorials(Resource Publications, 2019).
Amethyst Review 