It’s just a river
a body of water
we’ve figured out how to cross
rivers before
canoes, boats, bridges
but this river
I can’t figure out how to get to the other side
If I follow the line on the map all the way
up to the mountain
back down to the ocean
I can never cross-
no places where land masses touch-
to the other side
with Hannah
She might as well be on the other side of the Atlantic
I am earthbound homebound lovebound confounded
Only one man could walk on water-
Sweetgrass blackwater
unreachable shore where
Hannah hunches inside a Barbie house
all pink and plastic
Hannah
h-a-n-n-a-h
a palindrome
the same both ways
a continuum of letters
Picture this:
an ant
working up the h
and down–
around the a-
up the n’s –
around the a
up the h –
just to turn around and spell it again, again and again –
trapped inside three pieces of the alphabet –
unable to spell anything else
two of each letter
barricaded by h’s
guarded by a’s
two little n’s huddling together in the middle –
up and down
back and forth –
–
I picked her name from a book
it means grace
