Siren Song
       

Baited it-that's what we did. One big
mess. Slick fat of a leopard seal, a mermaid
curse in inky waters, places we'll never
return to. I'm as part of the anchored
ship as any. I'm as reddened by hands
and murderously known. The songs
stars play clear out in the crystalline
heavens. Some lasting mention of the end
repeated each day we feast. When the seal
was hacked open, it thrashed first
like a bear, opened its jaw to show fangs
whiter than snow We heaved it up. Suspended, it
looked priest-solemn, frozen in wondrous
content we'll never have. My saints
above me forgave nothing. We dread things.
We met the greater without cause or care.

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Copyright © 2012 Emily Rosko All rights reserved
from Prop Rockery
The University of Akron Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission