by Lauren Silex
Echo
Froth on my tongue,
I hold fistfuls of salt
from waves that will never reach the shore.
I drowned here once, I think,
soul and skin buried
under seashells and sand; left what became
of me hidden in algae rot.
The sea changes greens.
Watch it hurt.
Design a death
for me without the lungs.
I’ll hold it close.
Let it soothe me to sleep below dawn
and dusk, scouring oceansand
into salt.
In a parallel universe, I’d be a
bird skimming waves,
an omen to the dead,
a moonsong plucked from smoke.
Submerged in salt
water, I’d be a serpent or a sea
creature, something like a storybook.
Know what matters is the echo. What matters is the green.
Drag me away from this death
I have foreseen.
Let me ache into it.
Madison Zehmer is an emerging writer and wannabe historian from North Carolina, with work published and forthcoming in Gone Lawn, Déraciné, Drunk Monkeys, Kanstellation, and more. She is editor in chief of Mineral Lit Mag, and her first chapbook, Unhaunting, will be released by Kelsay Books in 2021.
Baltimore artist Lauren Silex comes from generations of creative family. A concern for the environment in 2008 finally led her to cut paper collage and the use of recycled materials in her artwork. She uses storytelling to illustrate how the natural world interacts with and is affected by civilization. After applying acrylic paint to a wood substrate, Silex meticulously cuts and glues hundreds of pieces of paper from old magazine pages, atlas pages and coffee table books, etc. The piece is then embellished with detailing in ink and oil pastel. The result is multilayered and rich with meaning. Silex graduated from Prince George’s Community College and the Maryland College of Art and Design. She has had solo shows in Los Angeles and Baltimore, and her work is in several private collections around the country. Published on the covers of the Free State Review, The Mighty Line, and forthcoming issues of Palooka and Gone Lawn literary journals, her collages have also been awarded Best in Show and People’s Choice in 2019.