poetry by alison hicks

Line

I drop my line     let it out
with its sinker     it goes down where I can’t see
ripples out     from where it drops 
I’m not looking for a fish     to catch by the lip
I will take a boot     a tire
whatever the river     gives up
the bottom cold and still     will not tell me
the riverbank     is silent
I am an interloper     they do not trust me
what have I done     to earn their trust
after all     I do not breathe water
I can only sit     here
with my line     quietly
let it float     above the depths

Alison Hicks was awarded the 2021 Birdy Prize from Meadowlark Press for Knowing Is a Branching Trail. Previous collections are You Who Took the Boat Out and Kiss, a chapbook Falling Dreams, and a novella Love: A Story of Images. Her work has appeared in Eclipse, Gargoyle, Permafrost, and Poet Lore. She was named a finalist for the 2021 Beullah Rose prize from Smartish Pace, and nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Green Hills Literary Lantern. She is founder of Greater Philadelphia Wordshop Studio, which offers community-based writing workshops.