by Kristin Garth
You were aware of mermaids in the sky,
fenestrated fins swimming by since you
are old enough to be outside alone. Why
their pallor ash, collective moans imbues
few fears of what was well known at daybreak
seven years old. Magical was mundane
and manifold as silver rain in lakes
abandoned by the dead. Mermaiden pain
schools overhead. Two innocent related
inheritors of a haunting hate will
recognize milky eyes in window late
dilating as they move about. Gray gilled
avengers, without doubt, desire a kill,
contemplate two reposing deshabille.
Editor’s Note: This poem will appear in the forthcoming Flutter: A Southern Gothic Fever Dream from TwistiT Press. Flutter is the story of Sylvia Dandridge, a 16-year-old dying of scarlet fever in 1883 Pensacola. Beset by fever dreams, she concocts a universe on the grounds of Longleaf Estate that bequeaths her progeny (lemon tree foundlings), drama (rabid swans and vengeful mermaid ghosts) and romance (a teenage seeming demon named Étienne).
Kristin Garth is a Pushcart, Best of the Net & Rhysling nominated poet from Pensacola and a sonnet stalker. Her sonnets have stalked magazines like Five: 2: One, Yes, Glass, Luna Luna, Occulum, Drunk Monkeys, and other places. She is the author of eleven books of poetry including Pink Plastic House (Maverick Duck Press), Puritan U (Rhythm & Bones Press) and Candy Cigarette Womanchild Noir (The Hedgehog Poetry Press) and the forthcoming Flutter: Southern Gothic Fever Dream (TwistiT Press, 2020) and Dewy Decimals (Arkay Artists, 2020). Follow her on Twitter: (@lolaandjolie) and her website (kristingarth.com).
(And for a further Flutter, read Kristin’s Susceptible. – Elephants Never)