© 2008
“Mermaid #5”
SMELLING
mermaid, ... delicious
chrolophyll gardenias brackish the bunt
Xenophon says of the horse, “And
in his frame , the first things which I say you ought to look at are the feet.”
And of the mermaid it is said,
and in her form, it is the tail that sickles & quickens.
comet’s tail dentrite kite
tail not indenturement but torque
mermaid, the form that whisks you away
that subterraneans
that issues deep down dark unders
that floats you in a clutch of surreptition
bellying violoncello shipload succumbs
respiratorial hazards
arguments encounter plum merchants reconnoitering spirogyra rum opulence
argonautic jubilee splash
mint ragas
requisition forms rise from the groin of the sea
a brace to
time-elude
--from Smelling Mary (Howling Dog Press, 2008)
2009 Wood Coin: Help Like Kelp Issue: Levinson, “Mermaid #5”