Jackie Sherbow
Yesterday, I read that Merlin’s
father was a demon. I had been trying
again to escape and there he was:
waiting for me down
a deep-blue hallway
It was all clear last night, prophet
that I am, I was all of it:
A foaming beer with bright
cake sprinkles inside; my mother,
looking at me with hatred;
a pair of globe-eyes, pupils
contracting and dilating; Instagram
posts with rainbow filters;
someone I didn’t know,
but know now; an Arctic hare
my lover finds, bridles,
and brings home
under the arm, in armor
made of rain.
The king’s soldiers wanted
Merlin, who couldn’t be had.
The animals’ claws are sharp,
but I am the one
who can point them.
***
Jackie Sherbow is a writer and editor living in New York. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Okay Donkey, Moonchild Magazine, Bad Pony, Luna Luna, Day One, The Opiate, and elsewhere, and have been part of the Emotive Fruition performance series. She works as an editor for two leading mystery-fiction magazines as well as Newtown Literary, the literary journal dedicated to the borough of Queens, NY.