Under the Rapids By Rita S. Spalding

Dressed in a cascade waterfall 

Skirt splashing with turning twirls

Orion smoothly across my breast

Truth of awen across my abdomen 

Warm lips pressed against tastes of love

We dance this dance prayer to the universe 

Rita S. Spalding has had poems published in numerous anthologies and magazines. Her first book, Abstract Ribbons, was published in 1992. A second book, The Eighth, is currently at a publisher. She has received awards for poetry from Jefferson Community and Technical College, Elizabethtown Community College, National Library of Poetry, Kentucky Monthly Magazine and the Kentucky State Poetry Society. In 2024 she was a presenter at the Kentucky Writers Celebration in Danville and Historic Penn’s General Store, the Last Insomniacathon and she gives poetry readings regionally on a regular basis.