Poetry
Why We Give
I give because it cuts
like six hundred calories
I give because blood
doesn’t grow on trees
I would feel guilty if I didn’t
I give though lamentation
willows weep blood
most bodies reject their tears
I give because I am exceptional
I give to bring back bloodletting
to protest the anal sex question
to spread my ecstatic viral strain
because blood is life and the
life of the animal is in its blood
because a pound of flesh
is never enough
because a vampire
must give back
because blood displaced
still rushes to the heart
because I’m bleeding out
because giving is catharsis
I give because through giving
I’m inside so many tender people
—Andy Dibble
Curiosities Found on Captain Nemo’s Nightstand
pickled eyes in glass
stare out through murky waters, all
algae and isinglass
two locks of black hair
traded from a shy mergirl
for a pocket watch
a kraken’s skull, rare
the only one of his kind
beside scrimshaw bone
Atlantean wine
the bottle still corked and aged
in damp ocean caves
the Heart of the Sea
beating out strongly, bloody
hacked from seaweed,
floating free
—Gretchen Tessmer