Ariel Clark-Semyck: Water's Wet Dream to Be Weightless
Valentine's Day
I
ideal date, alright:
you take me cave diving
in the cheese caves under Manhattan
scuba-tanks full of wine
II
you text back
say you're hanging
with the guys right now
I fart under the covers
stick my head under the covers &
breathe in but only a little
III
going through the Stations of the Cross
can be fun when
you approach it from a tourist's point of view
floating above each scene
trigger-happy with the lens cap off
IV
falling face first through a computer screen
a pit of pixels fast approaching—
would I rather see myself
as a pile of robot diamonds
or a heap of space debris?
V
got picked up by a couple of drifters
in a cornfield
it's all fun & games until
someone pulls out a probe
VI
ripest wounds grow in
more subtle organs than the skin
you hate when I wax pathetic
say shit like that
VII
did you know
giant tarantulas keep small frogs as pets?
imagine that
eight little frogs
like eight little dogs
each leash tugging
on a furry leg—
speed-crawling
doing its best
good pillow talk
VIII
maybe we need a new location
maybe we need electrocution
IX
your mouth swims circles around pink pyramids on my chest it looks
like you know what you're doing here I have
no idea what I'm doing here
X
something about the blue stripe on a magpie's wing
like the sky took its bright blue celestial key
& scraped it along each feather's topcoat
like the sea took a paintbrush & dipped into itself
water's wet dream to be weightless in air
XI
did you know
if you take nutmeg
intravenously
it can be toxic
great pillow talk
XII
to have a mind as clear & cold
as a swimming pool in the
center of the Arctic Circle
XIII
we listen to some Nick Drake
we are feeling very nostalgic but we're not sure what time we would like to go back to
I don't think we feel any more alone today than we do on any other day
Ariel Clark-Semyck is a graduate from University of Notre Dame. She lives in Chicago where she serves as a part-time henchwoman for various places of business. Her poems have been published in or are forthcoming in Dream Pop Journal, Witch Craft Magazine, Rag Queen Periodical, andThe Nottingham Review.
