Laney Nielson

Of Water and Want

There was a brook behind the house—
I would’ve been ten years old. Beyond
that the woods with its floor of moss
and pine needles, a fresh crop of saplings.
Late July. My fingers stained from berries.
How often did I untie my laces, pull off
my socks and wade into the bone-chilling
water, arms raised up like a tightrope walker,
measuring the space between risk and reward?
Not often. Mostly, I stood on the soft-earth,
watching the water bugs—their delicate legs
straddling the surface. Why now, do I remember
the streambed, the feel of the slick pebbles, worn
clean? We have many chances. But only one life.
 

Laney Nielson is a writer living in Texas. Her middle grade novel, Peppermint Cocoa Crushes was published in 2017. She’s a past recipient of the Cynthia Leitich Smith Mentorship and a former student of Barbara Helfgott Hyett. Laney plans on celebrating the publication of this poem with a piece of key lime pie!

… return to Issue 13.3 Table of Contents.