Let me Wade

by Lou Smith

knee deep in swamp

slick near swamp-edge

sludge under tread.

The blueberry ash, that grew as lanky 

as a cattleman, is what this

place was named after – Ash Island –

its petals like faeries’ frilly slips

under tiny pink / white dresses.

We hauled fish when it was safe 

–when islands hadn’t been 

cemented as land with slag–

when the slick didn’t fill their gills

with arsenic

Lou Smith is a poet based on Wurundjeri country in Melbourne. Her writing has been published in journals and anthologies including Soft Surface, Nine Muses Poetry, The Lifted Brow, and The Caribbean Writer. Her first collection of poetry riversalt was published by Flying Island Books in 2015. www.lousmith.net