Smithereens Press Chapbooks Atoll by Dylan Brennan | Page 21

The Edges of Things

Before finding the blubber tasted
best when eaten cold and raw
in the freshness of the night
seal meat was roasted on a flame
kindled after the Indian manner.
Accompanied by a hitherto
undiscovered species of fig
the mawkish cream of mammal
fat gave succour to three men
on the verge of slumber’s murk.
Huddled around the newly-dug
well at the centre of that island
through white sand they drank
algid water with cupped hands
and told stories of el cuco
and muscular sea monsters.

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