Dave Bonta's "Lotic" is a short, quiet portrait, and it helps to know that "lotic" describes fast-moving fresh water, like a river or stream. The poem seems to picture a woman, or at least a "her," who is closely tied to a river. She is "trim as a ship," sleek and well made, and the river is her "other self," as if she and the water mirror each other. The river is even "witty with different hands," a nice image of many currents playing and shaping things at once.
The speaker sounds admiring and a little awed. The middle lines turn toward art, with "visions to express" and something "true" yet "troubling." Then the poem ends on release: no grief for the body, no private sin. Judging by the imagery, the mood is clear and freeing, like moving water that carries guilt away. The short lines and plain words leave a lot of open space, so the poem feels calm but also slightly mysterious.