. . . shift at oars

water
relives
reservoir

boat
bottom
draft
displaced


    °


lineal
thought
backward
body

no one
knows
the brains
I am now

tree
an oar
origin

joints ruptured
soak in
deep ink


    °


wallpaper
remnant
flower
float

chandelier


brief case
hundred words
logged

erode
my
Arabic

congestion
of resin

person


forecasts
final position

restless sleep


    °


width of
back
belted

sodium
poultice

exhausts
courtship


agora


drain
a home
of you

wind
lashes
fronds


cellophane


    °


where a
mammal
bled


activity
not yet
diffused


blackened
patch
of water

weight
of oyster
in gloved
hand he
shucks


dented
pewter


    °


assonance
her aspect

relocated


wind
shatters
plexi

phenomena
foregone
for me

shift
at oars

new
muscle
grown
bone

never
held
you


    °


case
of dried
apricot


gorge


I am
summoned

capable
a day


outlast
forecast


coral reef



feeler


    °


paper
cover
mallet
awl

downfall


fire-
box


androgyne

Copyright Credit: Stacy Szymaszek, “. . . shift at oars” from Emptied of All Ships. Copyright © 2005 by Stacy Szymaszek. Reprinted by permission of Litmus Press.
Source: Emptied of All Ships (Litmus Press, 2005)