Kelly DuMar
Shellfish lovers
Morning splits a faint pink line, gulls horning
the sky’s mouth wider
you still sandflea, curled greedy around sleep
hoarding empty shells, bonfired, and me still full
of yesterday. Old devourings forgotten, my hands rough-memory
for new shucked jewels – yours atop mine with their knack
stab – twist – crack
A careful blade gentles in before you know you’re harvested. I have woken
glistening jelly, fresh-seen –
open to the cool brine of a new day
Ankh Spice is a sea-obsessed, queer-identified poet from Aotearoa. His work has been widely published internationally, with several poems nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, and one chosen as a winner of the Poetry Archive’s WorldView 2020 competition. You’ll find him and a lot of sea photography on Twitter @SeaGoatScreams or on Facebook @AnkhSpiceSeaGoatScreamsPoetry.
Kelly DuMar is a poet, playwright and workshop facilitator from Boston. She’s author of three poetry chapbooks, girl in tree bark (Nixes Mate, 2019), Tree of the Apple, (Two of Cups Press), and All These Cures, (Lit House Press). Her poems, prose and photos are published in many literary journals including Bellevue Literary Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Crab Fat, Storm Cellar, Corium & Tiferet, and frequently in Feral. Kelly serves on the Board of the International Women’s Writing Guild (IWWG), and produces the Bi-Monthly Open Mic Writer Series attended by women worldwide. She blogs her daily nature photos & creative writing at kellydumar.com/blog.