So, The Portal To Another Dimension Is Not In The Hudson
…you are life, rarer than a quark…
- Jonathan Osterman
In times of distress
I look to the water.
Today it’s the Hudson.
I was hoping for fog
and all I got was the sun
rolling diamonds
down river like roulette balls.
And I could see my reflection,
a specter,
atop the glitz and shimmer.
He walked
toward me as he started
devouring
his own arm, took a chunk right out
from behind the elbow—
the part that heats up
when someone asks
you to hold them tighter.
He kept taking bites
until his arm was gone.
Now in front of me
his head swiveled in a way
that only a dead thing could.
I watched, red-eyed in terrible
beauty,
as he sunk his teeth into his shoulder,
wondered if I was supposed
to be watching.
The sun whipped the smell
of breathing
off the gems of the Hudson
as I lunged into its riches.
First published in FLAPPERHOUSE, 2017