by Jim Ross
Escape Fantasy #8
Here you are, forcing your eye below
the horizon. Here I am, waiting to
pull your humiliated body above the
ocean. You wanted to be a hero, so
I tied myself to the floor and waited for
you. I realised the blood rushing through
my veins sounded like a waterfall, the
plasma crashing waves through my arms.
Last night, I told you I loved you, so
everything softened to a trickle. Everything
rotted slower. You’re pointing at me with
two fingers, but it’s not a handgun. You
have this habit of making big gestures,
anyway. You’re talking like inhaling
shelled water, quoting lots of Hegel,
more Phenomenology. Stop it. Stop it.
you said you weren’t trying to drown me, but it
keeps becoming summer and you keep
taking me to the beach, just one more
tsunami crashing in my ears like a magazine
advertising terrible acts. We’re here now,
the part where I never get to be at
peace and then we both die. Here you
are, forcing your eye below the horizon.
I had a dream about you, then another.
you built Rome; I made you a jack and
Coke. You said we’d get used to it, more
Romes, more empires, more shitty
cocktails. That a boy buying you a
shovel and digging you a grave is the highest
form of compliment.
Sharon Zhang is an Asian-Australian, Melbourne-based poet and author. Her work has been recognised by Paper Crane Journal, Antithesis Magazine, and elsewhere. She is a mentee at Ellipsis Writingand an editor at Polyphony Lit. Outside of writing, she enjoys collecting CDs, scrolling endlessly on her phone, and thinking about Hegel a touch more than that which is necessary. She is the poet laureate of pretentiousness and using the word “body” when any other noun would work instead. Skin. Limbs. Humanness. Tablecloth. Twitter and Instagram @xs_zhang6
Jim Ross jumped into creative pursuits in 2015 after a rewarding research career. With a graduate degree from Howard University, in seven years he’s published nonfiction, fiction, poetry, photography, hybrid, and plays in over 175 journals on five continents. Photo publications include Barren, Burningword, Camas, DASH, Kestrel, Litro, Feral, Stonecoast, Sweet, and Typehouse. Jim and his family split time between city and mountains.