In the Deep
by Loretta Diane Walker


After the sun slouches below the bargeboards
of the sea’s wide house,
After its huge bottom dips below the intricate blue
waves sprawling with mystery,
After it squeezes its generous body
through balusters of darkness,
After it sinks down into the deep treads of the deep
Where light is a thin reed,
Where the anglerfish rages
Against the lightless loneliness of the abyss,
Where love is a parasite with razor teeth biting through flesh,
With all things male clinging, fusing, dissolving
Into the blood and skin of a harlot
Pimped out by the brutality of the sea.








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