Jim Dunn

The Wanting Mare

Wanting more
The wanting mare
brings her furious desire
to the water’s edge
Waiting here
She dips herself in
Many moons of dusk
A sad star frozen
In the icy night
Sheds tears

One frozen moment
Stopped in its tracks
From the crescent
Of the other pink moon
Cassandra sings
Prophecies of
A watery wedding
Of one mermaid
To the endless sea
She twists like the tide
And rolls her soul
Out upon the rocks
In prayer

An offering to the
Crash of the collapsing surf
Rumbling roaring in a
Ballad of blue waves
She sings
Amongst the mists
Of the day
Soft sibilant and sweet
Entwined like a bird to its
Flight, a minstrel to his song.

Jim Dunn is the author of This Silence is a Junkyard(Spuyten Duyvil, 2022) Soft Launch (Bootstrap Press/Pressed Wafer, 2008), Convenient Hole (Pressed Wafer, 2004), and Insects In Sex (Fallen Angel Press, 1995).  His work has appeared in Castle Grayskull, Blazing Stadium, Can We Have Our Ball Back?, Bright Pink Mosquito, The Process, eoagh, Gerry Mulligan, Cafe Review, Meanie, and the anthology tribute to John Wieners, The Blind See Only In This World. He edited the John Wieners Journal, A New Book From Rome with Derek Fenner and Ryan Gallagher of Bootstrap Press.