Sweetwater Alchemy

By Joyce Nuttall

Honorable Mention

I have an affinity for water:

once it was my whole world,

rocking me warm,

buffered, secure,

sweeter than I’d ever be again

till swirled over

by a second water birth:

platinum elixir,

subliming all that was

into what could be,

offering another comforter

to wrap me and nest in:

the watery cause of my yearning

for soul-spring

from the sweetest water of all

flowing over the Fall

to purify my own reflecting pool.