Iceberg Coming!
Mixed media on paper
18cm x 18cm
© Brian PikeLesley Pleasant
Silt
Of course, he did mention that off newfoundland corpsewhales still wake
That cold and sweat and spit freeze iron
So, how many fingerprints have you lost, how many dried?
the unicorn’s dead
and the ice? wartstubborn as a stonehenge stone
Still: There are greens in my grandmother’s hair
And in a box marked “ornaments”
the teeth of two grandfathers
frozenly dripping at the edge of the carpet
binding the stairs
asthmatic bee in comb: this
Freezerburning
Hibernation
This is how
dedicated benches sit
like seagulls in the snow.
Hedging
red fish
are schooled in the etiquette of weaving grass
yellow fish
hem gutters.
overturned yellow is pale
pale the gasping white of a dying
fishbelly fishbelly
the scales--
do
re
mi
cold uncomfortable asthmatic
i can’t see Can’t see Can’t
stop.
white stop on red
fa la so
white.
within the yellow wind
egg inside out.
the middle’s white
fishbelly fishbelly.
green rays, big. uncamoflauged on this
seabottomed sidewalk. seen on concrete seams,
they creep. No slow
(flowing)motion here
except my walking.
i like the fish
fish colors, like oil, don’t mix. don’t sink.
i like the fish.
but my boots are out of place.
if i go back now,
I’ll get the bends.
Bio:
Lesley Pleasant is an assistant professor of German at Hollins University.
