Joel Chace

‘“letter” (dedicated to Ted Enslin)| PDF

from :A Ship”

20.

On deck, couples

promenade, not

a single voyager

having realized how great

the yearning for snow, until

just now, as flakes touch

lashes, cheeks, throats. Drawn

up and around the entire

ship, some massive parchment

receives its text: letters of

alabaster, pearl, eggshell,

salt, powder, frost, linen

bone, rice, lace, smoke, harp,

titan, ghost, whisper,

photon, shadow, stone,

and night. Beneath all this, these

lovers, faces lifted

into white cold, read

language inside out.

21.

The bow angel and the stern

angel ascend, helixes

of brume. The ship cuts

through inky water as

passengers gaze up

to darkness dimly lit by

those rising, broadening,

silvery spirits. Now, a

slow tailwind begins bending,

curving them until the

one to rearward lengthens,

stretches above its

other. So they

merge. On deck, all

the paramours, enraptured.

22.

Triangle of three

upended barrels; under

each, one barefoot, frowsy

god. They play poker,

craps -- cards, die, money exchanged

despite physics. Enormous

steel claw descends and pulls

up through the hold those

bottomless containers. The

deities blink, finish their

game.

Should we tenderly

bestow?

Greatheartedly

render?

Unfurl a rumor

of destination?

But

the more we proffer to

these wanderers, the louder

they bellow STOP!

23.

Sun. Sea. Whiteness. Lazy,

lateral rocking of

the ship as it drifts

alongside a berg, size of a

holy orphanage. Heads

uplifted, astonished

lovers grip railings. And,

that night, copulating, eyes

closed to darkness and to

each other, all is tall

whiteness, pure glare.

24.

Seems there’s a tunnel

after all. And

a destination. One

and the same, in fact. In

fact, one inside

the other. Ship in a

bottle. Emerald in its

velvet box. Pinkish, fading

light on deep snow at a field’s

verge: that memory inside

this thought, May be the last, that’s

inside this feeling -- chill

spirit breath across the

heart -- inside this

event, each single

lover aboard this ship.

Joel Chace has published work in print and electronic magazines such as Tip of the Knife, Eratio, Otoliths, Word For/Word, Golden Handcuffs Review and The Brooklyn Rail. Most recent collections include Humors, from Paloma Press, Threnodies, from Moria Books, and fata morgana, from Unlikely Books.