Small paper nautilus,
cockleshell octopus,
two of her tentacles
soft wands for conjuring
calcium carbonate
into her miracle
shell, light and delicate,
white ribbed and tuberculed
elegant watercraft,
henceforth and constantly
hers for the captaincy.
Mark Totterdell’s poems have appeared widely in magazines and have occasionally won competitions. His collections are ‘This Patter of Traces’ (Oversteps Books, 2014) and ‘Mapping’ (Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2018).
Ocean glittering in deadly blue light,
filled with small phosphorescent dots,
we are bounded on the east and west
by beaches and the repetitious, drugged
sway of the ocean becomes our way of
living;
the room is empty, save for us, and your
long tentacles scattered on the bed.
This cut piece of reality is a still life
painted with pain and love.
Long hours lead to endless ages as I
dive back into the water to give you
the kiss of life or to get stung.
Peycho Kanev is the author of 4 poetry collections and two chapbooks, published in the USA and Europe. He has won several European awards for his poetry and his poems have appeared in many literary magazines, such as Poetry Quarterly, Evergreen Review, Front Porch Review, Hawaii Review, Barrow Street, Sheepshead Review, Off the Coast, The Adirondack Review, Sierra Nevada Review, The Cleveland Review and many others.
Foxglove Journal 