42opus
is an online magazine of the literary arts.
17 December 2006 | Vol. 6, No. 4
Ice Bone
For Edward, in memory
Say the black road
is a bleached crest raveling
the one distance
meant for you (all of us).
Turn the stars
that night into light
animals. Aspirin moon
in its place glowing
over an ice bone
sea, the lives of your yellow
blanket thrown over
(hush). Make it August
(our summer) in Maine. Warm
stolen beer, adult beer
—Heineken—your mouth
on the bottle, my shoulder
my nipple (making out
to a manual—your boy-smell
is Camels, Ivory soap). We sailed
over clearness
in your small, white boat.
Take the tank top
I wore—its cool
Indian design—the pattern
paste it to this map
of—(your hand)—nodded off
at the wheel—I hear
the obit names you "seaman"
you'd become a (cigar box
—sea shells and snap
shots—the whale postcard
signed LOVE YOU) captain
summed up, wrapped around everything
now (a cement truck).
About the author:
Lauren Goodwin Slaughter holds an MFA from the University of Alabama. Her work has been featured on Verse Daily and has most recently appeared in Fugue, Faultline, and Salt Hill. New poems are forthcoming in Blue Mesa Review and Crab Orchard Review. She lives in Missoula, Montana where she continues to work as prose editor for the online journal, DIAGRAM.
Source:
http://42opus.com/v6n4/icebone