Parable of the Water’s Folly

The water rippled with no intent,
nor inclination, toward the tiled
borders of the pool.

The girl-child appeared
and was alone with the water.
She commanded it to carry her

and it carried her.
From end to end and back
again, through lights and jets,

the water acquiesced
to the girl-child’s bidding.
The girl-child did not notice

as the water began to batter
its multitude of shoulders
against the tiled borders of the pool.

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Bernadette Geyer is the author of the October 2025 release, What Haunts Me (April Gloaming Publishing). Her debut collection, The Scabbard of Her Throat, was chosen by Cornelius Eady for publication in the Hilary Tham Capital Collection of The Word Works. Geyer also served as editor for My Cruel Invention: A Contemporary Poetry Anthology, published by Meerkat Press. Her writings have appeared in Bennington Review, Barrow Street, Oxford American, Poetry Ireland Review, Westerly, and elsewhere.