Legacy

Poetry
Written By Donna Spruijt-Metz

In his house on the river, the man 
restores broken things, for instance


the boy who is a fish, who hoards 
secrets in his pockets, who shimmers 


in and out of himself while the river 
foams, pulling like the mad moon 


on the blood beneath her, flowing 
fast of late, in a hurry to show her 


entrained destructions as I mumble 
my morning prayers, and what recipe 


for restoration could there possibly be,
I wonder, gills straining on this shore, 


which was once death, and may be 
death again, as we drag our children 


upstream to their battered heritage.

Donna Spruijt-Metz

Donna Spruijt-Metz is Professor of Psychology and Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California. Her first career was as a classical flutist. She started Rabbinical School, but ended out writing poetry instead. She lived in the Netherlands for 22 years and translates Dutch poetry to English. Her poetry and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in venues such as the Copper Nickel, RHINO, The Cortland Review, The Tahoma Review, and Poetry Northwest. She is the author of two chapbooks—Slippery Surfaces (Finishing Line Press) and And Haunt the World (with co-author Flower Conroy, forthcoming from Ghost City Press).

Twitter: @DSMPoet

Instagram: @donnasmetz

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