Black-Nippled Reeds Poem by Sheena Blackhall

In the lily pool, under the waxy flowers,
A baby suckles the black nipples of reeds

The water loves the bones of it.
The slow silt, the rock and lilt of the mud
On the riverbed cushion its fall
A fluid cradle

Its head is as smooth’s an otter
Its breath has floated away
Like swan’s down drifting

Its mother lowered it down
Hoping the pool will keep her secret drowned
The blood between her thighs,
A slippery launchpad.