The Fisherman’s Widow
— for B V P
She’s found their shore without
him there. Delving into the roar,
she let saltwater pour
on head hollows, loss’ dialect
ebbing in and out. Her lot
of days, of years dawning begot
footpaths that she ritually named,
brought the clothes of silt with style
to rear into a composed isle. . . .
With each languid fathom trekked,
troves of vocables murmured
underfoot, leaves stammered
with song, snapped twigs exclaimed . . .
till what place there was felt unsalted,
and she held him as reclaimed.
Alexander Pepple edits Able Muse and its affiliated press, as well as directing the online literary workshop Eratosphere. He edited The Able Muse Anthology (Able Muse Press, 2010) and has been widely published, with recent work appearing in Rosebud, WestWard Quarterly, Blue Unicorn, Hopkins Review, River Styx, Little Things, and Barrow Street.