Calanques

By Jose Oseguera

There are depths unknown,

Unexplored by our bodies.

Waters so blue, bluer than your eyes

When you’re lost in one of your moods—

An island cliff whose face erodes, detached,

As rocks rifting from each other,

Even when recovered from the sea

And reconciled, never can fit as they once were.

The pressure of the deep

Takes your breath, steals your

Expectations, steels you for

The collapse from the brunt, the mystery

That scares your protector—

A single breath—me in you.

I smile as we drown,

Reciting iambs in your limbs,

Sonnets coming from a sonofabitch

Who hates it when you treat him

The way he treats you.

We frown and die

And decompose

Yet live forever

In the droplets and air bubbles

That keep our bones from sinking.

More Remarkable Finds

Super Mario Bros. Coin

By Jose Oseguera

We’re the most common item found in this two-bit overworld, but as we warped down the ultrasonic tunnel black, what I saw was a rather uncommon glow.

By Catherine Moore

I am more than I seem. A jaw that does not fit. The thick femur that rubs this pelvis to an ache. A skull that can’t quit echoing in the chaos.

By David Mills

If the weather looks bad, you should never use four-letter words.