MONO ISSUE 1 PDF FLIPBOOK - Flipbook - Page 37
The Other Side of the Atlantic
by Vanessa Frank
I am the ocean
because I am unfathomable,
controlled by the moon,
and have never made a mistake
And if I dared, I could swim right out
into the ocean in the night-time
Pass over crabs and sea cucumbers
who hardly miss the sun
pass left and right brains of sharks
and sooty indefinite wells
I could be sucked straight through the mantle
and melt into the core of the hungry earth
Or maybe I tread
until my toes fall wet and numb and turn to sand
and my hairs house barnacles
And the water absorbs my baba ganoush recipes
scabs, songs, fingernails,
and daydreams of nice boys with bad grades
My death will be an iridescent gush
of light reflecting on shallow water
Either a wild crash onto stones
or a gentle flush inward
My bones will wash into tide pools
where shrimp and snails will rest warmly
inside of my tiniest caves
37
