Smithereens Press Chapbooks Atoll by Dylan Brennan | Page 22

The Sea of Steinbeck

The warm linguini of the turbellaria,
lacerated ankles in the hot seawater,
a stingray barb between the toes,
he found life in littoral zones.
Fiddler Crabs, Sally Lightfoots, Dark Gorgonians –
better an orgy of squirming things
to a soon-to-be-ex-wife or the cold snot
of a plucked gastropod upon a metallic table.
Each night he steeped his knuckles
for a vital sting and turned his eyes
from the rock-pools to the stars
and from the stars to the rock-pools.

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