Lao Rubert

     Speckled Fish

it is quiet                       
but I had to       have to
shut the door       say no
when yes
stands at the threshold               
have to       shut it with a slam
close it       with a click
remind the body                    
to hear       
to listen                                                            

have to become still enough                                      
for answers to rise       
and fall again   
settle into this place                                       
that tastes like wind
smells like stone                                                                                                      

the water     stretches before me                   
it may take an hour     maybe two
to clear     to see                                                                     
the speckled fish
that have always been swimming                              
beneath me

Lao Rubert lives in Durham, North Carolina. Her poems have appeared in Adanna, Atlanta Review, Barzakh, Collateral, Mom Egg Review, Poetry in Plain Sight, 2024 Pinesong Award Anthology, Poetry East, Snapdragon, Topical Poetry, and elsewhere. She was shortlisted for the Anita McAndrews Poets for Human Rights Award established by Poets Without Borders. Rubert received an M.A. in English Literature from Duke University and has spent a career working to reform the criminal justice system.