Page 23 - The Woven Tale Press Vol. V #3

lisa stiCE
Man with Unhealthy Complexion Listening to the Sound of the Sea
Stice’s work has been published in The Magnolia Review, Fredericksburg Literary and Art Review, The Irish Literary Review, Poetry Super Highway, and Allegro Poetry Magazine.
* title borrowed from the Salvador Dali painting by the same name
14
he is seated in a chair in his living room with the blinds drawn
raises an opalescent hand cups it to his ear
and believes it’s a shell
when he was a boy
he walked the beaches built castles to topple
his skin was dark
warm to the touch
from his coming and going
but now he listens
to the dust settling believes he is the sea
his body a curled wave
his innards kelp
his breath an ebb and flow