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  • Figure 1. by Robin Gow

Figure 1. by Robin Gow

Posted on August 30, 2019 by publisher in
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http://liquidimagination.silverpen.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/deux-Sœurs.mp3

Narrated by Robin Gow

 

Figure 1. by John Philip Johnson

Illustration by Sue Babcock

            The lab report

tells the narrative

of a dissected shark.

            Label: heart

brain    kidneys            feathers

            lockets                         fears 

torment            firecracker

summer                                    2017

                        the smooth rocks

a lost sandal

I draw arrows to label all these
items inside the shark.

            I stick the scalpels
in the walls to keep them still

            while I work. 

Still they quiver and
crave their own arrows.

            Arrows grow out of my mouth
and point to all the things
I’ve eaten:

            the beautiful names of moons
the beautiful quadrantes

            of patchwork space.

One arrow says:
            This is where he-she ate
                        a tablespoon of hope.

I think this is definitely a lie
            because I would have remembered
eating hope

            what with all the feathers
and the songbird singing.

I focus on the shark 
            I took apart.

I ask the shark if the arrows hurt
and the shark cries formaldehyde.

            I tell the shark to point
to help me find its eyes 

            and the shark pulls
them out of its stomach:

            two glinting brooches    

someone’s mom used to wear. 

BIO: Robin Gow is a poet and LGBTQ+ educator. His first full-length poetry collection is forthcoming with Tolsun Books and his second is forth-coming with Weasel Press. Robin has facilitated LGBTQ+ inclusivity trainings for universities and healthcare networks across the country.

Our next issue will be published on February 1, 2021. We will open submissions for poems and stories on November 1, 2020.

Liquid Imagination

Issue 42 Aug 2019

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Stories

Light or life by Jessica Testerman

The Bloodstain and the Bone Garden by Daniel Delehant

Apartment 401 by Andrew Johnston

Nothing but a Tale by Lynn Rushlau

The Monster of Grug by Richie Billing

Poems

Mothsong, poem by John Philip Johnson, illustration by Mike Lawlor

Figure 1. by Robin Gow

First Generation: The Counselor Prepares Her Retirement Speech by T.D. Walker

The Silent Universe by Bruce Boston

Recursing by Josh Pearce

Deux Sœurs Immortelle by Gretchen Tessmer

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