you need something poeticfor your songlike seafoam green wallsbare and picture-lessa sun-soaked skyabove a crashing waterfallor a hat blown off in the winda crazy mind that can interpret numbersa child deep within the coves of slumberyou need a rhyme to make a dimesome guitar stringsand a little timesomething to sing aboutand a steady beatlike footsteps…

Jonathan Grimm always loved solving puzzles. He knew all aboutthem. Jonathan knew the history of puzzles. He was an 80-year old widower.His children and grandchildren all lived in different states. Jonathan didn’tcare. Now that he was all alone he had all the time in the world to puttogether more puzzle pieces.Sometimes his eldest son would…

Pomatomus saltatrix, you showed me how to loveIn lapping of the waves against the gallows’ posts aboveThe gentle bay, forever clear, where barnacles sing ofA heaven freed of ugliness and brutal death thereofThe fisher boy had broken yet like tawny August dawnA tiny speck of cold and sweat dripped slowly down uponA bare yet gilded…

When I was a child,I dreamt of what I could do.I’d stand outsideOn a clear spring afternoon,Waiting to catch a butterfly on mytongue.I always wanted to catch a rainbow.I’d sit on the floor,Talking to inanimate objects,Hoping they were actually listening.I always wanted to advise a balloon.I’d sit in front of the fireplace,Consuming the warmth.And be…

Untitled Elizbeth Bachmaye ’16