Thousands of dead fish wash ashore
sardines and mackerel scattered like surgical staples.
The Victorians made necklaces from the heads of hummingbirds,
iridescent plumage like the sails of Cleopatra’s barge
chainmail hollied in lux brumalis
day dresses in aniline-dyed silk
and glass beads
and thousands of dead fish wash ashore
like silver tiaras
made from the bodies
of South American weevils—
coal into color
skins under the hammer,
the waves
making a moan
as entangled as those yet to come.

…

Damon Hubbs: gardener / casual birder / lapsed tennis player / author of the chapbooks ‘Coin Doors & Empires’ (Alien Buddha Press) and ‘The Day Sharks Walk on Land’ (Alien Buddha Press) / recent work appears/is forthcoming in DarkWinter Lit, Acropolis Journal, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Apocalypse Condfidential, Dreich, Cutbow Quarterly and elsewhere / 2024 Best of the Net Nominee / Twitter @damon_hubbs