Water falls against midnight caught

in a moonless river, empty summer

reflects chaos, possibility, something

true in an unpunished world.

Love linked to sacrifice, misery’s blue edge.

Stars collapse, movement orients

crushing silence. She licked

his body, wild internal rhythms

descending to counterlight, transforming

unconscious instinct, tension between faith

and prisms of sensation, skin against need,

loneliness against skin, her eyes shut tight.

She hears river water. His hands show her the way.

MARY JULIA KLIMENKO obtained her BA & MA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University where she taught Creative Writing for two years before returning to school to get a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology. She divides her time between her private psychotherapy practice and writing. She has a chapbook published by Spire Press, Source Vein, is published in numerous literary journals and has three limited edition books in print in collaboration with artist, Manuel Neri. She’s been his primary model and collaborator for the past four decades.