The Verrazano Bridge
Katherine O’Connor
I look for your eyes in the water
Mom never showed me a photo
Never told me about your hair
If you had freckles like mine
I crouch on the sand
The length of the waves
They hit their peak
I search for someone seeing into me
“Oh, he would have loved you,
completely spoiled you”
I look for your eyes in the water
Dad said they never found a
a
a
body
But that Mom wouldn’t have been able to afford a casket
For the
the
funeral
anyway
s
I look for your eyes in the water
In seaweed caught in plastic manmade lakes
In the foam of musky shores by the Verrazano Bridge
In trout that brush by my feet in the Kill Van Kull
Grammy said you’re hiding
And I’ll find you when I need you most
She said you made Mom promise
He’d get a granddaughter
You couldn’t wait for me
I look for your eyes in the water
The first time I asked about you I was five
“He had these blue eyes. Like yours and mine,
yes they were blue…they were
blue. Like yours.
Like yours and mine”
She turned the TV back on
Flipping through the channels
Castaway
The Little Mermaid
Finding Nemo
The Bridge
Our eyes are blue like
The Water
Yours would blend in
I look harder
I thought you drowned
Dad said when you jump that
high
The water
h
its you like a
t
on of
bricks
Did you close your eyes?
Or were you ready
Staring into it
Arms stretched
Ready to dive
Thinking what Mom will say at the funeral
Wishing you waited for your granddaughter
I look for your eyes in the water
Katherine O’Connor is a sophomore majoring in Environmental Studies and Sociology and minoring in Creative Writing. You can also find her work in Elementia Literary Magazine and Cathartic Youth Literary Magazine.