you come cold from the sea and i am a wrecked sailor, licking saltwater pearls from your blue breasts. i am gone salt-mad with thirst. my mouth wants the sea inside you. your bright belly is an upturned boat and i am keel-hauled. i suck air and our ribs catch. i am swollen and salinated cells heaving. sand becomes glass under heat. silicate shines … Continue reading ‘Thirst’ by Samuel Tongue
On a carrier pigeon found dead in a chimney Time has done its dissections, spread the jigsaw on the kitchen table. Some wing bones, hollow radius and carpus, a fretwork of struts and trusses. Interlocking ribs around an unsnapped wishbone. An empty skull, chalky with age, and a tiny red capsule concealing a cigarette-paper of code: KLDTS, FQIRU, AOAKN, JRZCQ. These are the pencilled clues … Continue reading ‘On a carrier pigeon found dead in a chimney’ by Samuel Tongue
