"Lips" by Susan Solomon
Remembering
In the ocean of his fatherhood he went to drown
the man he used to be. Each morning he held
his memories under the water until they stopped
and sunk into the tides. Each night
he felt the creatures of prophecy swimming
against the undertows like salmon on a river run.
He did not tell his family that he’d gone
to meet the creatures in their tributary flows.
They found him later washed along the gravel beds
gasping liquid oxygen and flailing for the sea.
His slippery eyes stared up at them, their figures
distorted by the presence of the air.
With their talons and their slipstream paws
they spread his silver, scaly ashes everywhere.
In the ocean of his fatherhood he went to drown
the man he used to be. Each morning he held
his memories under the water until they stopped
and sunk into the tides. Each night
he felt the creatures of prophecy swimming
against the undertows like salmon on a river run.
He did not tell his family that he’d gone
to meet the creatures in their tributary flows.
They found him later washed along the gravel beds
gasping liquid oxygen and flailing for the sea.
His slippery eyes stared up at them, their figures
distorted by the presence of the air.
With their talons and their slipstream paws
they spread his silver, scaly ashes everywhere.
Aden Thomas' work has previously been featured in The San Pedro River Review, Common Ground Review, Third Wednesday, and Dressing Room Poetry Journal, among others. He lives in Laramie, Wyoming with his wife and sons.
Susan Solomon is a freelance painter living in St. Paul, Minnesota. She also edits and cartoons Sleet Magazine, an online literary journal. Susan was recently laid off from her medical office job after 11 years and is now happily painting full time. She is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the same school that claims David Lynch as an alumni. To view more paintings, please visit www.susansolomonpainter.com
