Aly Pierce πŸ”ˆ

10

After Kaveh Akbar

In liquid, the descent stretches, switches seconds for hours,
a viscous slither in slow motion, when before he
walked, now he hangs from a thread, fell
once & was consumed into

amniotic oblivion, a darkness that only darkens, the deeper
pull of fluid in the ears, fluid in the gut, the dizzying midnight
muted mauve of shut eyes, the carmine of the insatiate
gulp, of a life spent on tumble in that maw –

permanent, suspended, detached from his body and his
will; both, a riddle who his murderers
could possibly be, the slow snatch of his person still
as mystifying as the ship sailed

away in the night: the silent sea, demure salt on
sand without that which moves it, the drowned unharmed.

Author Reading

About the Author

Aly Pierce is from Pennsylvania and currently lives in Massachusetts. Her debut collection The Visible Planets (Game Over Books) and chapbook Cryptids (with co-author Cassandra de Alba, Ginger Bug Press) were both released in 2020. You can find her on Twitter @instantweekend, on Instagram @instantweekend, and at alypierce.com.