July 2017
Dianna Henning
gammonmackinnon@diannahenning.com
I live in Lassen County on six acres with my husband Kam and malamute Sakari. The trees and mountains inspire me; the solitude nourishes me. I run a workshop Thompson Peak Writers’ Workshop and have taught in prisons and schools. Work published in: The Red Rock Review, The Kentucky Review, The Main Street Rag and other magazines. Nominated for a Pushcart, Blue Fifth Review 2015. My third book Cathedral of the Hand published 2016 through Finishing Line Press. Website: www.diannahenning.com

The river was where I started.
I bake my feet in the sand.
 
​
Seagulls gather at the water’s edge.
Don’t swim, they say. Sharks nearby.
Out of the blustery blue sky
appears an angel dressed in black.
 
Tell me who you are, I demand.
But angels have a way of disappearing
when questioned. That’s when the seagull
tugs me through gasses to the river.
 
I tell Mr. Gull that I’m currently on sabbatical,
not willing to risk the effort or comply
with a submersion that does not befit me,
but the seagull won’t have it.
 
My resistant wrist-bone feels like a skull
ready to make its bed underneath cold prayers;
my hand locked in the grip of trouble
and I fear how deep it might go.
©2017 Dianna Henning
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