Debut Prize in Poetry Finalist: "I Will Wade Out" by Samantha Schoech

A poem of visceral imagery that captures the small and large together in a simplicity that threads throughout, it's quiet, haunting, and beautiful. “I Will Wade Out” is Samantha Schoech’s first poetry publication and a finalist for Touchstone’s 2020 Debut Prize in Poetry.

I Will Wade Out
(after e.e cummings)

I will wade out
till the flesh hangs, crepe and petal
I will swallow the world.
Every person, every bird, every
tiny, mean heart.
And, still standing, spit it back out,
feeling the seeds against my teeth,
the gush of it.
That great muddy pool will gel
and reassemble,
just so.
Halting at first stuttering, reconsidering.
First, one perfect thing and then the next.
After 100 years
making
the world,
I will set my teeth in the silver of the moon.

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Samantha Schoech’s writing has appeared in The Sun, Seventeen, The Gettysburg Review, Glimmer Train, the New York Times, and many other publications. She’s also the co-editor of two humor anthologies. She has an M.A. in Creative Writing from UC Davis and she’s been awarded numerous residencies, a Sustainable Arts Foundation grant, and the Erma Bombeck & Anna Lefler Humorist-in-Residence Award. She’s the founding director of Independent Bookstore Day, and lives near San Francisco’s foggiest neighborhood.