Zachary Jean Chartkoff
Tiburón’s WaveI.
Tiburón’s
waves, rising,
falling. Your
body the only
warmth
in miles of
ocean.
II.
This should be
a movie; then
we could open
the doors of her
face, a beastly
flower. For three
days the fog
shut down the
coast, winds increased
to a gale. Waves,
not Tiburón’s, rose
high among the
waters, a pulse
in the sea. This
is the binding
syntax used
to say this:
III.
If only her belly
did not hang. A
still-life: Pup
with yolk sac.If only she wasn’t
shy, a wraith at
ease with herself;
wraith-boned
from hunger,
the pregnant shark
passing below
and a boy; one
who will leave
the beach and
his fellow
swimmers far
behind. There
will be a bay
he crosses, it
will be like a river
flowing out
from the tide
and in turn,
drawing out
the sea and
pushing back
the lagoon.For six
months I have
been thinking
about this boy,
this belly-heavy
shark. It is a
long time to
be infatuated by:
IV.
A pregnant
shark that comes
up to a drowning
boy, sometimes
swimming ahead
of him, sometimes
behind, sometimes
swimming around,
finally under
the child. Do not
get too attached
to her, fishermen
will hook her,
slit her belly.They are only
concerned with
the bent fins of
her history, the
armory of her
smile. Saturated
with color, they
stand on the deck.
One will be a great
healer. Another,
a poet who rejects
melancholy. A
third with a tiny
camera, click:
damp obscuring.
Absolute, superb.
V.
The story will
spread through
the town. Everyone
will rush down
to the quay to
see the boy as if
he were a vision,
to ask him his
story. You will
listen to him, and
make him repeat
it. The next day
we will all sit on
the shore and
watch the sea
to see if there will
be anything like
it in the waves.
Anything at all.
Bio:
Zachary Jean Chartkoff is a 34-year-old resident of East Lansing, MI. As a former Peace Corps volunteer he lived in Armenia, in the earthquake-devastated city of Gumri (formerly known as Leninkhan), from 1995-97, where he worked in an orphanage for mentally and physically disabled babies. It is his dream to one day relocate somewhere near salt water and great white sharks.
