Verdad Magazine Volume 8
Spring 2010, Volume 8
Poetry by William Doreski
In a Tribal Setting
A river, bottomless and gray,
gargles through the village. Children
splash naked in the shallows
while fishermen drag nets woven
of grass through the heavy current.
Imagine long nights
before the invention of candles—
pressed against each other
we taste a pleasure
that flees even the faintest
whisper of light. This world
coughs-up T-shirts plastic-wrapped
fresh from Sri Lanka and canned food
your mother cooks on a gas range.
Propane lanterns scorch the dark,
a radio drones a language
that almost sounds familiar.
One morning, we rise to a rumble
of power company trucks. I touch
the seams of your body and find
you’ve sealed and toughened yourself
against the primal urge. Your family
suspects me of sin, but they’re wrong.
One well-thrown rock
and I’m out of here,
hitching a ride on a yellow truck
headed south. You’ll marry the bright
young lawyer who arrives to sort
land claims. You’ll love him
for his powerful sharkskin suit,
forgetting how we loved—
the river flowing through us
with a gray carnivorous depth.
BIO: William Doreski's work has appeared in various e and print journals and in several collections, most recently Waiting for the Angel (Pygmy Forest Press, 2009).