Page 11 - WDickinson_Blackwell_Submission
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Limerick Hook
The limerick hook is a type of fishing hook with a standard barb and eye, but a
particular bend that distributes pressure differently.
Like how the mouth forgets the taste of food when it thirsts,
you search for mine, but what you see first
is not a set of lips, fumbling in sea-green half-light,
but cold translucent fish mouth. Needle teeth fight,
slices of gills snapping back, every breath rehearsed.
Your finger is the hook, it catches me in the corner,
each tendon pulling my mouth to yours, even closer.
There, lips meet, the thin barb flashing at you.
To your horror, my blood is clear-river blue.
Your ligaments become the spool, a catch composer.
I wear your hook like jewelry beside your cutlery,
you lay me flat, eyes gleaming with gluttony.
The hook is a lover; your tongue is the knife
that bisects me. You try to revive
the memory of saltwater—as you gut me.
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