The Need

By Moriah Bray

Some hours into twilight

the music begins

across the muddy river.

It slips between

the iron bars of the windows

as freely as the warm air.

Y tu, mi blanquita, mi cariña

sin ropas en la luz de la luna

call out to me to listen.

“How do you say guitar?

How do you say voice?

Song?”

Tonight

we are in love

with a mystical language.

And this, mi amor, is my dearest secret: Si

hablo con el rio, el agua puede olvidar that

I don’t belong.

The need

curls our tongues

“la guitarra, la voz, la cancion.”

---

Moriah Bray (she/her) is PhD student at Georgia State University working on a manuscript of poetry in both English and Spanish. She also serves as the poetry editor of Exhume literary journal. When not writing, you can find her in a yoga flow or petting her cats.