Doug Ramspeck

the brothers try to drown each other at the guthrie quarry

for the water here is a green corridor     & the view from the top
is the first prophecy     & stones fly through the air & whistle
past their heads     & the myopia of summer reminds the boys
that death is yet another numerology     this counting while holding
a brother’s head beneath the surface     & death is the squirming of arms
& legs to reach a first inheritance     some original body like a vigil
& the water says to the boys i will marry you in stillness
& the boys say to the water we used to believe we were bound to the earth
& sunlight dreams a darkness pooling around the lungs     dreams
a contagion in the nostrils & the throat     & the brothers see giving in
as the only actual death     even later as they ride their bikes back
to their father’s house     & keep trying to bump each other into traffic

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Doug Ramspeck is the author of seven poetry collections, one collection of short stories, and a novella. One recent book, Black Flowers, is published by LSU Press. Five books have received awards: Distant Fires (Grayson Books Poetry Prize), The Owl That Carries Us Away (G. S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction), Original Bodies (Michael Waters Poetry Prize), Mechanical Fireflies (Barrow Street Press Poetry Prize) and Black Tupelo Country (John Ciardi Prize for Poetry). His poems have appeared in journals that include The Southern Review, Kenyon Review, Slate and The Georgia Review. He is a three-time recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award.