Poetry Cave – Water Demon

Read Water Demon, a poem by Kristin Garth.

He sends them to her in the rain. Midnight

deluge of regiment, his reign. All day

they drop, in sheets, she hides. Arid, afright,

an adolescent osmotic bride — prey,

pale pores to penetrate. Her ceiling pounds

his proxies. Patiently, he waits. Won’t bathe,

can’t leave or he’ll get in. They’re in the ground.

They’ll seep in skin. Unblemished, freckled, found

for him; precipitation she is caged

within. Relentless rhythms, raindrop bound,

In bed, hidden, her fears by sleep assuaged.

Her slumber, dry, splayed limbs, in satin slip,

they ambush thigh, his soldiers, drip by drip.