She Whispers Wet Augury
Bathe, bathe in the waters of the Gihon,
Under her riverbed dredged dry by time.
Drift through the fragile shades that hide from dawn.
Shades of naiad and oracle bygone,
That call with perfumed breath of sage sublime:
“Bathe, bathe in the waters of the Gihon.”
Perfumed steam that dazes with each breath drawn,
Gasps that whisper burn “abandon your climb,
Drink in the humid shades that hide from dawn.”
Soapy whispers from the naiad hiss on:
“The world above is mucked with sin and grime.
Bathe, bathe in the waters of the Gihon.”
“Rinse clear the well until our sins are gone.
My cistern aches to purify and prime,
Dive through the dying shades that hide from dawn.”
I steep in her cisternal pantheon.
She whispers wet augury in pulsèd rhyme:
“Bathe me in the waters of your Gihon.
Drown in me, burning shade, defy the dawn.”
Nathan Dennis is a playwright and poet of Floridian extraction. He is the Vintner-in-Chief of Wine Cellar Press, a poetry press dedicated to free and formal verse in equal measure. He is a graduate of NYU Tisch Department of Dramatic Writing. His work has appeared in Anti-Heroin Chic, The Cabinet of Heed, Neologism Review, Crepe & Penn, Rat’s Ass Review, and UnscoopedBagel. His most recent play, Circle of Shit, was produced at Dixon Place in March, 2019.
