threes

Published in Dark Mountain: Issue 13
is a frequent contributor to Dark Mountain books with her speculative poems and micro-fictions. She holds a degree in biology and is an avid field naturalist and performance poet. She has been known to win ornithological swag in competitive birdwatching events on Vancouver Island.

1.

three men by the corndog cart
take to the sky as crows
their business suits and patent
leather loafers become black
feathers and claw feet
as they loft into the blue
three briefcases
now dark maws stretched wide
with sound and meteorology
the landlocked people
feel a momentary warm breath
of wing beats as they reach
for the ketchup
                          and then nothing

 

2.

three men in a rowboat
fight over two oars until
they knock a hole in
the floorboards and an octopus
scuttles in      the men
are out-armed but the octopus knows
the destination (so the hostile
takeover is for the best)    the creature rows
all night with two arms
and clasps the three men in an
adhesive embrace with
the other six     by morning
they clear the birth canal
the exhausted octopus deposits
her naked squealing cargo
on the beach

 

3.

three men in a boardroom
thirty stories high
discuss double-hulled
tankers while erasing small
islands from marine charts
a hiccup in their
hearts leaps from three
throats and bangs its head against
the triple-glazed window
trying to see all thirty
stories at once


Dark Mountain: Issue 13

The Spring 2018 issue is a collection of essays, fiction, poetry and artwork about what it means to be human.
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