Apologue

Grain by grain the world is measured

commingled in test tubes

clutched in the ragged claws

of mermen

drop by drop

quantified

aligned

crossed over and recombined

 

Each tilt precise

a degree on degrees

the science of the Succubus

a syntany

registered precisely

in the faint umber scrawl

of bloodcaps

 

The phylogeny of the Fae

assessed by incision

by revision

a decision of precision

condensed and collected

in tiny blued bands

 

An ecosystem

selkie and sylph

kelpie and kirin

niched with rain clouds

into effusion

 

How qualified the bands

which bond us

extended beneath

the chimera’s scalpel

 

Worlds

pressed like flowers

between the pages of the dictionary