Dispersion, and: Low-head Dams

Abstract

Dispersion, and: Low-head Dams Laura Madeline Wiseman (bio) Dispersion Made breath evaporate ash and embers sputtered from smokes above where the river bends. Made interstate rush-hour grind backfire dirty with factory belching—oil leak plastic burning hot swirl of poison. Made us second-hand worthless what was the use of planting seeds that rolled to the edge a tray with pipes and papers licked and twisted lit. Made the room cartoonish layered in gray incense smolders red wasted was a matter of perspective addiction like breathing a choice to call it. Made love ephemeral dealers and daddies paid the bills got the ac going stayed high. Made us dependent on paraphernalia as a pipe communal as a smoke passed around held too long and never long enough. Did we even feel it? Low-head Dams Okay so fine. It defined us in those river apartments. Mercurial moods soothed by crawling smoke right after their swing shifts footfalls reverberated after eleven [End Page 40] dishes thrown into the sink yellow burn of hallway light seemed the doorjams babbling slurs of living room their chairs sometimes muted tv wide-pupiled violations light from a book of matches. The hushed rumble of their records their dirty battered vehicles idling. Their stash abovethefridge underthecouch insideapurse their hunger sheet pans crusted with blackened cheese their thirstbeer bottles lined the counter their stink incense burned to mask. Their toxic exitsand entrances shaming the units in runoff. Will they persist if the city mitigates, as planned, the low-head dams that defined our place? [End Page 41] Laura Madeline Wiseman Laura Madeline Wiseman's book Velocipede, published by Stephen F. Austin State University Press, was a Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist. Her book Leaves of Absence: An Illustrated Guide to Common Garden Affection with artist Sally Deskins (Red Dashboard) is an Honor Book for the 2017 Nebraska Book Award. Copyright © 2018 University of Nebraska Press