Dahlia Mandel is a writer based in Montreal, Canada."down by the river" is her second poem published on Tea & Oranges; you can read her first poem, “You’re So Pretty,” here. She describes “down by the river” as a love poem to summer that was written when she was feeling particularly trapped by the coldness and whiteness of Montreal's winter, longing for sun and sweat and colour. She recommends, when you're in that state, movie nights with your roommate, hour-long calls with your best friend who lives on the other side of the world, and a warm loaf of just-baked bread.
down by the river, where dragonflies bathe in the afterglow of languid afternoons, we find ourselves dancing among the flowers, wearing dresses of pink and red and yellow and orange. warm wine going straight to our heads, watermelon juice staining our fingers. we ignore the itch of the tall grass, and we embrace the itch of love. firmly planted in each other’s arms, we close our eyes and we listen. we listen to the wind and we hear her secrets, we even tell her a few of our own. not to worry, she says, i won’t tell a soul, and we believe her because the air is sweet. the air is sweet, and you are lovely. the air is sweet, and you are lovely, and the sun is setting in the hollow of your collarbone. if time were kind, it would stop for us here, but the taste of wine has grown dull on our tongues. the night has crept in, the sky now painted hues of bruised violet and indigo, and down by the river, where dragonflies bathe in the afterglow of languid afternoons, we find ourselves dancing among the flowers one last time.